Newly-elected Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, took the oath in a ceremony held in Muzaffarabad on Tuesday.
According to the 24NewsHD TV channel, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Chaudhry Latif Akbar administered the oath to Prime Minister Faisal Rathore.
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisla Kareem Kundi and Faryal Talpur exclusively attended the oath-taking ceremony.
Initially, the ceremony was scheduled to be held at eleven o'clock, but was delayed due to disorder as more guests were invited than the venue could accommodate, many attendees were denied entry, and the media was also barred from coverage.
The mistreatment of guests by the security staff, including incidents of pushing and shoving, further contributed to the delay in the oath-taking proceedings. Bilawal Bhutto's personal security also reached the venue.
As per the channel report, the process of a peaceful transfer of power in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has been completed, and the newly elected Prime Minister, Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, will take the oath of office today.
The channel reported that the political crisis in Azad Kashmir has come to an end, and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has succeeded in forming its government in the region.
Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore was elected Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir following the successful passage of the no-confidence motion against Chaudhry Anwarul Haq.
Owing to the illness of the AJK president, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly will administer the oath to the newly elected prime minister.
The oath-taking ceremony will be held today, and all arrangements for the ceremony have been completed. PPP central Faryal Talpur is present in Muzaffarabad, while the participation of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other key political figures is also expected.
Strict security measures have been put in place in Muzaffarabad for the ceremony. After being sworn in, the Prime Minister will form a new cabinet.
Yesterday, the AJK Legislative Assembly passed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, paving the way for Pakistan People’s Party leader Faisal Mumtaz Rathore to be elected as the sixteenth Prime Minister of the region.
Rathore secured thirty-six votes in the fifty-two-member House, while only two votes were cast against the motion, and nine members remained absent.
Faisal Mumtaz Rathore was born on April 11, 1978, in Rawalpindi. He is the son of former AJK Prime Minister Mumtaz Hussain Rathore, while his mother, Begum Farhat Rathore, also served as a member of the Legislative Assembly and as president of the PPP Women’s Wing.
Rathore received his early education in Rawalpindi and later graduated from Punjab University, Lahore. After his father’s passing, Rathore’s elder brother, Masood Mumtaz Rathore, was elected to the assembly in 1999.
Faisal Mumtaz Rathore first contested elections in 2006 from LA-17 Haveli Kahuta. He was elected MLA for the first time in 2011 on a PPP ticket and later served as Minister for Education and Minister for Electricity in Chaudhry Abdul Majeed’s cabinet.
He was arrested in a political case in 2016 but was later acquitted. He became Secretary General of the PPP AJK chapter on March 23, 2017, a position he continues to hold. He was re-elected MLA in the 2021 elections and played a vocal and assertive role in the opposition.
In 2023, Rathore joined the coalition government of Chaudhry Anwarul Haq as Minister for Local Government and Rural Development. Ahead of the no-confidence session, Rathore resigned from his ministerial post, stating that he wished to contest the prime ministerial election with full transparency.
Reporter: Safeer Raza