A no-confidence motion against Azad Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq was successful on Monday, with 36 members of the Legislative Assembly voting in favor and two against.
Of the 29 members of the PPP, the president could not cast his vote and of the 9 members of the PML-N, one woman abstained. Two PTI legislators, regional president Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi and opposition leader Khawaja Farooq Ahmed, voted against the move.
Haq, who had arrived at the hall along with four loyalists, left with them shortly after delivering his speech.
Three PTI members did not attend. A member of the Muslim Conference and a member of the Jammu Kashmir People’s Party (JKPP) also abstained. Apart from them, three members of the PTI’s forward bloc, Ansar Abdali, Mazhar Saeed and vice-president Chaudhry Riaz, also abstained.
After the votes were counted, AJK Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, presiding over the session, announced PPP’s Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore as the new prime minister.
According to the AJK Constitution, a vote of no confidence against the incumbent prime minister automatically counts as a vote in favor of the legislator proposed as his successor in the same resolution.
Rathore is the 16th prime minister elected in AJK since 1975, when the parliamentary form of government was introduced in the region.
The newly elected prime minister said the change would be felt not just in faces but in the system itself, and that would be the true measure of success.
Announcing various administrative measures, he stated that secretaries will be entitled to only one official vehicle and the total number of secretaries will not exceed 20. He also declared the abolition of the posts of special secretary and senior additional secretary.
He said the reduction process would be taken to the lowest levels. Rathire announced the merger of the technical wing of the Department of Education with the department and the drafting of a new transport policy. Until the new policy is finalized, no officer below grade 18, except those in administration, police and superintending assistant engineers, would be allowed to use an official vehicle.
All departments, the AJK chief minister said, will have to deposit additional government vehicles into the official transport fund within a week. There would be no commitment regarding biometric verification.
He ordered to revive the Public Service Commission (PSC) and announced cancellation of notifications for posts that had been advertised through the PSC and then withdrawn till January 1, 2020. The PSC would conduct examinations within a month and appoint qualified candidates for those posts.
The AJK chief minister further announced that for appointments up to grade 18, except where recruitment was 100 per cent quota-based, at least 50 per cent of vacancies would be filled through direct recruitment. All departments were directed to implement this within a month.
He said the government would fully implement the Third Party Act in accordance with the high court’s decision. The law would apply not only in government departments but also in semi-governmental organizations and autonomous bodies, including the Bank of AJK.
Rathire said a uniform time scale policy would be introduced in all departments, with no time scale increments being granted above grade 19. In departments where section officer and deputy director posts existed, all administrative officer posts would be abolished.
To address public grievances, the chief minister, ministers, chief secretary, secretaries and heads of departments would hold open courts in all districts. Complaint boxes would be installed in the offices of the prime minister and principal secretary and would be opened every 15 days under their joint supervision. Judicial reforms would also be introduced, in consultation with the higher judiciary, to ensure administrative justice.
Regarding hydropower projects, the AJK chief minister said an agreement would be reached with the federal government in cooperation with the PML-N leadership. Improving internet speed and strengthening the local government system were also listed as priorities.
Referring to the needs of low-paid staff, he said that as the son of Raja Mumtaz Hussain Rathore, he felt a duty to take care of junior employees and had therefore decided to regularize all Grade 1 employees holding permanent posts, provided they had no pending court cases and the move did not affect anyone’s pension or legal rights. He also announced one month of additional salary for all first-grade employees, which will be paid from departmental development budgets.
He ordered all driver posts to be upgraded to Grade 5 and said police officers would be provided facilities and allowances at par with those in Punjab. Police personnel performing duties alongside important persons would be entitled to travel and dearness allowance.
He also announced a 60-day remission of sentences for prisoners in all AJK prisons, except for those convicted of qisas, diyat, espionage, anti-state activities or terrorism, where the remission would not apply.
Concluding his speech, the Prime Minister reaffirmed AJK’s “unwavering support to the people of occupied Kashmir”.
Earlier, when the Speaker announced the voting results and asked Rathore to take the seat reserved for the leader of the house, the prime minister-elect, dressed in qameez shalwar and a black coat, shook hands or hugged lawmakers in the front row, including the only two PTI lawmakers.
Before Rathore’s speech, PPP regional president Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin, PML-N regional president Shah Ghulam Qadir, his predecessor Raja Farooq Haider, PTI regional president Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi and several others also spoke.
Earlier still, the outgoing Prime Minister gave a speech shortly after the start of the session. He said he was leaving “in a dignified manner and with a happy heart” and had no grievances against any of the pro-censorship lawmakers, most of whom were still members of his cabinet.
“I came to thank you for relieving me of this responsibility, on the one hand, and setting the record straight, on the other,” he said.
While affirming his “commitment to the ideology of state accession to Pakistan, the armed forces and the Kashmir freedom movement”, he said those who drafted the no-confidence resolution should have consulted him first.
“My best wishes are with the new government. We will play a constructive role in the opposition. If the government performs well, we will stand shoulder to shoulder. But if there is any attempt to crush the aspirations of the people of AJK, we will resort to such severe protest that no one has seen before.”
However, PTI’s Niazi mocked the outgoing prime minister’s claim, saying his tenure had witnessed “the worst misfortune ever experienced by the state system and institutions, including the Legislative Assembly”.
Niazi also heavily criticized the votes cast in favor of the no-confidence motion by the PTI renegades, calling it an insult to the public mandate.
“This entire process is illegal. We will take legal action against those who returned to the Assembly with PTI tickets and then crossed the hall,” he warned.
Motion of censure
The no-confidence motion was moved by PPP legislator Qasim Majeed in the assembly today, after a resolution for a no-confidence vote against outgoing Prime Minister Haq was submitted to the Assembly Secretariat on Friday afternoon. The resolution was signed by 25 legislators, 23 from the PPP and two from the PML-N.
Soon after today’s session began, Haq also arrived at the house. He approached Rathore and exchanged greetings with him. Haq left after giving a speech.
Giant screens were set up outside the assembly building, where people watched the proceedings live.
Haq’s loss seemed certain even before the no-confidence motion against him was tabled today, as the PPP had the guaranteed support of at least 29 lawmakers, two more than the number needed for the motion to succeed.
By October, the PPP’s ranks in the AJK Legislative Assembly had swelled to 27 after 10 lawmakers from the PTI’s forward bloc joined the party.
On Sunday, two more PTI legislators, said to be from the party’s forward bloc, Primary Education Minister Deewan Ali Chughtai and Small Industries Corporation Minister Taqdees Kausar Gillani, announced their decision to join the PPP after meeting Faryal Talpur.
With almost six months left in the assembly’s term, Rathore is the fourth prime minister elected in AJK in four years.
In August 2021, the PTI elected Niazi as prime minister after then Prime Minister Imran Khan appointed him to the position. Niazi had polled 35 votes against joint opposition candidate Latif Akbar, who polled only 15 votes, in the 53-seat house.
After nine months, Niazi resigned from the position and was replaced by PTI regional president Sardar Tanveer Ilyas.
In April 2023, Tanveer was disqualified by the full bench of the AJK High Court from being a member of the legislative assembly for contempt. He was then replaced by Haq.
