Now Reading: PML-N’s Iftikhar Gillani elected PoK ‘prime minister’ amid rigging allegations
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PML-N’s Iftikhar Gillani elected PoK ‘prime minister’ amid rigging allegations
PML-N’s Iftikhar Gillani elected PoK ‘prime minister’ amid rigging allegations
Barrister Iftikhar Ali Gillani of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was elected on Friday to the post of 'prime minister' of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He secured 30 of the 44 votes cast in the…
Barrister Iftikhar Ali Gillani of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was elected on Friday to the post of 'prime minister' of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. He secured 30 of the 44 votes cast in the legislative assembly in Muzaffarabad, defeating Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Mukhtar Ahmed who got 14 votes.
The election follows a three-phase poll in July and August that was marred by violent protests and allegations of massive rigging. Mr Gillani himself lost a directly contested seat but later entered the assembly on a technocrat reserved seat. The assembly has 53 seats, but elections for seven seats in Poonch and Sudhnoti remain pending due to law and order issues.
The Joint Awami Action Committee has been leading protests in PoK since June over 12 seats reserved for refugees, and Mr Gillani's election on a reserved seat after a direct defeat may escalate tensions. Several protesters and security personnel have been killed in the unrest, and the regional government banned the group in June.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The Gillani election deepens a legitimacy crisis in PoK, where the ruling PML-N won only 25 of 38 directly elected seats but controlled the reserved seats to form a government. The JAAC protests, which began over reserved refugee seats, now have an additional grievance: a chief minister who could not win his own constituency. This mirrors the 2021 situation when PML-N's Sardar Tanveer Ilyas was similarly elected on a reserved seat after a direct defeat, triggering months of political instability. India maintains its position that PoK is illegally occupied territory and does not recognise any electoral process there. The next flashpoint is the by-elections for the seven pending seats, which authorities have postponed indefinitely.
New Delhi has reiterated that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are integral parts of India and that Pakistan's occupation of parts of these territories is illegal.
Source: thehindu.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
