GILGIT: Governor of Gilgit-Baltistan Mir Ghazanfar Ali Khan resigned from his post on Friday.

Mr Khan, who belongs to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), tendered his resignation to President Arif Alvi.

According to official sources, the president has accepted Mr Khan’s resignation.

Mr Khan was elected a member of the GB Assembly from Hunza constituency in the June 8, 2015 election.

In November 2015, he was appointed GB governor by former president Mamnoon Hussain on the advice of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

After becoming governor Mr Khan had vacated his GB Assembly’s seat which was later won by his son, Mir Saleem Khan, in a by-poll.

PTI leader Maqpoon may be appointed to the post

Ghazanfar Khan has also served as the GB’s chief executive from 2004 to 2009 during the regime of former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf.

He contested elections several times from his hometown of Karimabad in Hunza and was returned five times as a member of the GB Assembly.

At present the region is ruled by the PML-N government and the GB assembly’s term will end in 2020.

A source in the GB Governor Secretariat told Dawn that a few days ago a representative of the federal government held a meeting with Governor Khan and asked him to resign from his post. He said after receiving the federal government’s message, Mr Khan decided to resign from his post to avoid any controversy.

As the GB Governor House has so far not provided a copy of Mr Khan’s resignation to the media the reason described by him for quitting the job could not be ascertained.

According to the GB Order 2018, a person selected for the post of GB governor should be a local resident.

New governor

Another source told Dawn that the federal government led by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had decided to appoint Raja Jalal Hussain Maqpoon as new governor of GB.

Mr Maqpoon, who is PTI president for the region, was defeated by PML-N candidate Akbar Khan Taban in the GB Assembly election from the Skardu constituency in 2015 by one vote.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Maqpoon said that in a meeting held in Islamabad last week he was asked to assume the GB governor’s office. However, he added, he had suggested that another person from the party should be considered for the post.

Answering a question, he said PTI senior leader Jahangir Khan Tareen wanted him to be the GB governor.

But, he added, it was so far not final who would be appointed as the new governor in the region.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2018