مضمون کا ماخذ : سامرائی کی خوش قسمتی۔
PTI forward bloc leader elected GB’s new CM
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) forward bloc leader Gul Bar Khan was elected as Gilgit Baltistan’s new chief minister on Thursday, a private TV channel reported on Thursday. When the assembly session began at around 12:30pm, speaker Nazir Ahmed asked all those in favour of Gulbar to stand on one side. Subsequently, 19 of the 20 members […]
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) forward bloc leader Gul Bar Khan was elected as Gilgit Baltistan’s new chief minister on Thursday, a private TV channel reported on Thursday.
When the assembly session began at around 12:30pm, speaker Nazir Ahmed asked all those in favour of Gulbar to stand on one side. Subsequently, 19 of the 20 members present there did so, expressing their support for Gulbar. Out of them, three belonged to the PML-N, three to the PPP and one to the JUI-F. Upon gathering 19 votes, the speaker then announced Gulbar as Leader of the House.
An independent lawmaker, Nawaz Khan Naji, abstained from voting, with Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) parliamentarians backing the new CM. All 11 members of the PTI’s ‘like-minded group’ boycotted the polling, claiming rigging. Speaking to the house after his election, he thanked fellow assembly members for supporting him despite his ill health. He also expressed his commitment to work for the peace and prosperity of the region. Belonging to the Diamer district, Gulbar was leading a forward bloc within the PTI and had previously declared he would contest for the position independently. Gulbar had served as the GB health minister during the previous PTI government as well as in 2010-2011 as a Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) member. According to the GB assembly’s website, Gulbar took oath as its member on Nov 15, 2020 from the GBA-18 Diamer-IV constituency of the Darel district.
Meanwhile, the PTI, through its Central Media Department, issued a statement condemning the “robbery of public mandate in Gilgit-Baltistan in broad daylight”. It said that by depriving a party that has 22 seats out of the 33-member assembly of the right to rule, “the faces of democracy and Constitution have been slapped”. Warning that the results of “violating the sanctity of the vote would be disastrous”, the PTI vowed it will take back the mandate that was “forcefully grabbed” from them. The election for the coveted post was triggered after the region’s top court disqualified former CM Khalid Khursheed was disqualified for holding a fake degree. Following his removal from office, the PTI divided into two factions – the forward bloc and the like-minded group, which boycotted the election.
