GILGIT: Newly elected members of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Asse­mbly (GBLA) took the oath during a session of the assembly here on Wednesday.

Outgoing Speaker Fida Mohammad Nashad administered the oath.

According to officials, the lawmakers will elect the speaker and the deputy speaker on Thursday. The election for the GB chief minister will be held on Friday.

Opposition parties — the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) — nominated Ghulam Mohammad of the PML-N as their joint candidate for the post of speaker and Rehmat Khaliq of the JUI-F for deputy speaker. Advocate Amjad Hussain of the PPP will be the grand opposition’s candidate for the office of chief minister.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has not yet announced its candidates for the posts of speaker, deputy speaker and chief minister. According to sources, Fatahullah Khan and Khalid Khursheed are strong candidates of the PTI for the office of chief minister, and retired Colonel Ubaidullah Baig and Amjad Zaidi for speaker and Raja Zakarya and Jawad Manaw for deputy speaker.

Out of a total of 33 legislators (24 directly elected and nine on reserved seats) in the new GB Legislative Assembly, the PTI and its ally Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen have 23 and opposition parties 10 members.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2020