GILGIT: Several local leaders of PTI and PML-N joined PPP on Thursday ahead of the Gilgit-Baltistan general elections expected later this year.

Former GB Assembly speaker and PTI leader Fida Muhammad Nashad, former GB Assembly member and PTI GB women wing president Amina Ansari, former assembly member and PTI leader Wazir Hasan, former PML-N leader and GB minister Haider Khan, former PML-N leader and assembly member Iqbal Hasan and some other PML-N leaders met PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in Islamabad and announced their decision to join the PPP.

Gilgit-Baltistan Governor Syed Mehdi Shah, PPP GB chapter president and assembly member Adv­o­cate Amjad Hussain, GB Finance Minister and gen­eral secretary PPP Muhammad Ismail and other PPP leaders were present on the occasion.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari welcomed the political leaders who joined the PPP GB Assembly tenure will end in November and 2025 is being termed the election year in GB.

In the general elections in 2020, PTI had formed the government in GB and Khalid Khurshid Khan was elected the GB chief minister.

In July 2023, Mr Khan, who also served as PTI’s president in the region, was disqualified by the GB Chief Court for obtaining a licence from the GB Bar Council allegedly on the basis of a fake education degree.

Mr Khan’s disqualification led several PTI lawmakers to switch sides and ultimately a coalition government, comprising PTI disgruntled members and PML-N and PPP lawmakers, was formed in the region.

One of PTI’s disgruntled member, Haji Gulbar Khan, replaced Mr Khan as the new chief minister.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2025