Of the 29 PPP members, the speaker could not cast his vote and of the 9 PML-N members, one female member abstained. Two PTI legislators — regional president Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi and leader of the opposition Khawaja Farooq Ahmed — voted against the move.
Haq, who had arrived in the hall along with four loyalists, left along with them soon after delivering his speech.
Three PTI members did not attend. One member each of the Muslim Conference and the Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party (JKPP) also abstained. Apart from them, three PTI forward bloc members — Ansar Abdali, Mazhar Saeed and deputy speaker Chaudhry Riaz — also abstained.
After the votes were counted, AJK Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, who was chairing the session, announced PPP’s Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore as the new premier.
Under the AJK Constitution, a vote of no confidence against the sitting prime minister automatically counts as a vote in favour of the lawmaker 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 that the change would be felt not only in faces but in the system itself — and that this would be the true measure of success.
Announcing several administrative measures, he said secretaries would be entitled to only one official vehicle and that the total number of secretaries would not exceed 20. He also declared the abolition of the posts of special secretary and senior additional secretary.
He said the downsizing process would be carried down to the lowest tiers. Rathire announced the merger of the Education Department’s technical wing into the department and the drafting of a fresh transport policy. Until the new policy was finalised, no officer below grade 18 — except those in administration, the police and monitoring assistant engineers — would be permitted to use an official vehicle.
All departments, the AJK premier said, would be required to deposit extra government vehicles into the official transport pool within a week. There would be no compromise on biometric verification.
He ordered the Public Service Commission (PSC) to be reactivated and announced the cancellation of notifications for posts that had been advertised through the PSC and then withdrawn up to January 1, 2020. The PSC would hold examinations within a month and appoint qualified candidates to those posts.
The AJK premier further announced that for appointments up to grade 18 — except where recruitment was 100 per cent quota-based — at least 50pc 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 be enforced not only in government departments but also in semi-government organisations and autonomous bodies, including the Bank of AJK.
A uniform time-scale policy, Rathire said, would be introduced across all departments, with no time-scale increases granted above grade 19. In departments where section officer and assistant director posts existed, all admin officer positions would be abolished.
To address public grievances, the prime minister, ministers, the chief secretary, secretaries and department heads would hold open courts in every district. Complaint boxes would be installed in the offices of the prime minister and the chief secretary and opened every 15 days under their joint supervision. Judicial reforms would also be introduced, in consultation with the superior judiciary, to ensure administrative justice.
Regarding hydropower projects, the AJK PM said an agreement with the federal government would be secured in cooperation with the PML-N leadership. Improving internet speeds 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 of care toward junior employees, and had therefore decided to regularise all Grade-1 employees serving in 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’s additional salary for all Grade-1 employees, to be paid from departmental development budgets.
He ordered that all driver posts be upgraded to Grade-5 and said police constables would receive facilities and allowances on par with those in Punjab. Police personnel performing duties alongside important individuals would be eligible for travel and dearness allowance.
He also announced a remission of 60 days from the sentences of prisoners in all AJK jails — except those convicted under qisas, diyat, espionage, anti-state activities or terrorism, where the remission would not apply.
At the conclusion of his speech, the prime minister reaffirmed AJK’s “unwavering support for the people of occupied Kashmir”.
Earlier, when the speaker announced the results of voting 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 with or embraced lawmakers in the front row, including the two lone PTI legislators.
Before Rathore’s address, 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 had delivered a speech shortly after the session began. He said he was leaving “in a dignified manner with a contented heart” and held no grievance against any of the pro-no-trust 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 to set the record straight on the other,” he said.
While asserting his “commitment to the ideology of the state’s accession to Pakistan, the armed forces and the Kashmir freedom movement”, he said those who had drafted the no-trust 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 support it shoulder to shoulder. But if there is any attempt to crush the aspirations of the people of AJK, we will resort to such a severe protest that no one has ever seen before.”
However, PTI’s Niazi mocked the outgoing premier’s claim, saying his tenure had witnessed “the worst-ever disgrace of the system and state institutions, including the Legislative Assembly”.
Niazi also strongly criticised the votes cast in favour of the no-trust motion by PTI renegades, calling it an insult to the public mandate.
“This whole process is unlawful. We will take legal action against those who returned to the Assembly on PTI tickets and then crossed the floor,” he warned.
The no-trust motion was tabled by PPP lawmaker Qasim Majeed in the assembly today, after a resolution for a no-confidence vote against outgoing PM Haq was submitted to the Assembly Secretariat on Friday afternoon. The resolution was signed by 25 lawmakers, 23 from the PPP and two from the PML-N.
Shortly after today’s session began, Haq also arrived in the house. He went up to Rathore and exchanged greetings with him. Haq left after delivering a speech.
People view proceedings of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Assembly live on big screen installed outside the assembly’s building on Nov 17. — Photo by Tariq Naqash
Big screens were installed outside the assembly’s building, where people viewed the proceedings live.
Haq’s loss seemed certain even before the no-confidence motion was tabled against him today as the PPP had the guaranteed support of at least 29 lawmakers — two more than the requisite number needed for the motion to succeed.
In October, the PPP’s ranks in the AJK Legislative Assembly had swelled to 27 after 10 lawmakers from the PTI forward bloc joined the party.
On Sunday, two more PTI lawmakers, said to be from the party’s forward bloc — Minister for Elementary Education Deewan Ali Chughtai and Minister for Small Industries Corporation Taqdees Kausar Gillani — announced their decision to join the PPP after meeting Faryal Talpur.
With almost six months remaining in the assembly’s term, Rathore is the fourth prime minister elected in AJK in four years.
In August 2021, the PTI picked Niazi as the premier after he was named for the slot by then-PM Imran Khan. Niazi had secured 35 votes against the joint opposition candidate Latif Akbar, who bagged 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 court bench of the AJK High Court from being a member of the legislative assembly for contempt. He was then replaced by Haq.