November 14, 2001	Wednesday	Shaba’an 27, 1422

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MUZAFFARABAD, Nov 13: The opposition in the AJK legislative assembly on Tuesday threw the government on the defensive by raising a technical point regarding the appointment of the acting prime minister.

As the speaker Sardar Siab Khalid called the assembly to session, senior opposition legislator Sahibzada Ishaq Zafar stood on a point of order and said the prime minister had nominated works minister Syed Mumtaz Gillani as acting prime minister during his absence. But, according to the constitution only a senior minister could perform as acting premier.

Referring to sub-sections 3 and 4 of constitution’s section 17, he maintained that Mr Gillani’s appointment as acting PM was “unconstitutional and unlawful”.

Sahibzada Zafar suggested that the prime minister should send a fax from London regarding the designation of Mr Gillani as senior minister to validate his becoming the acting PM.

Opposition’s Sardar Mohammad Hussain, Chaudhry Javed Akhtar, Chaudhry Pervez Ashraf and Munir Awan also made fiery speeches supporting the points raised by Sahibzada Zafar and asked the government to nullify the “unconstitutional notification.”

Even a ruling party member, Abdul Waheed Khan threw his support behind the opposition, saying that the appointment of senior ministers had been the tradition since the introduction of parliamentary system in Azad Kashmir in 1975.