Nawaz Sharif nominates Dr Najeeb Naqi Khan for AJK President
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Nawaz Sharif has nominated Dr Muhammad Najeeb Naqi Khan for the post of president of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the 24NewsHD TV channel reported on Wednesday.
According to PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, Nawaz Sharif has directed Dr Najeeb Naqi Khan to submit his nomination papers for the presidential election.
Dr Najeeb Naqi Khan belongs to Palandri in Sudhanoti district. He was born in Rawalpindi on January 19, 1964. He received his early education at Aitchison College and later completed his MBBS degree from King Edward Medical College in Lahore.
His father, Colonel Muhammad Naqi Khan, served as AJK minister for health and food and was also a member of the AJK Legislative Assembly. His grandfather, Colonel Khan Muhammad Khan, is remembered as the “Father of Poonch”.
Dr Najeeb Naqi entered practical politics in the 1990s following the death of his father. He served as a member of the AJK Legislative Assembly from 1991 to 1996 and worked as parliamentary secretary for health and planning and development during that period.
He remained a member of the AJK Legislative Assembly from 1996 to 2001 and also served on the Public Accounts Committee. From 2001 to 2006, he was a member of the AJK Council.
Dr Najeeb Naqi returned to the AJK Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2011 and served as minister for health, education and information technology. He was again an assembly member from 2011 to 2016 and served on the Public Accounts Committee during that term.
In the 2016 general election, Dr Najeeb Naqi was elected from constituency LA-21 Sudhanoti-Poonch on a PML-N ticket after securing 25,732 votes. From 2016 to 2021, he served as AJK minister for health and finance and also held the portfolio of planning and development.
He has held government responsibilities in health, education, information technology, finance, planning and development during different periods of his political career.
Dr Najeeb Naqi has been a member of the AJK Legislative Assembly on five occasions. In the 2026 AJK general election, he was elected again from LA-21 as a PML-N candidate. The current assembly record lists him as a PML-N member from LA-21 Palandri, Sudhanoti.
He has also chaired the AJK Assembly’s Standing Committee on Health and previously served as vice-president of PML-N AJK.
The nomination comes after the recent AJK elections, in which PML-N emerged as the largest party and subsequently formed the government. The new AJK administration has also begun work on a 100-day reform programme covering areas including healthcare, education, sanitation and infrastructure.