A resolution for a vote of no confidence was submitted to the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly’s special secretary, Amjed Latif Abbasi on Friday.

On October 27, PPP leader Qamar Zaman Kaira announced that his party and the PML-N had agreed on bringing a no-confidence motion against the government in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The AJK Legislative Assembly has 52 members, and to achieve a simple majority, a party requires the support of 27 members.

Earlier today, the PPP put forward the name of Faisal Rathore as their nominee for the position of the prime minister of the territory, its AJK party president said.

The resolution was handed over to Abbasi by PPP lawmakers Chaudhry Qasim Majeed, Sardar Javed Ayoub, Malik Zafar Iqbal and Chaudhry Ali Shan Soni.

Assembly Secretary Chaudhry Basharat Hussain — a relative of AJK PM Chaudhry Anwarul Haq — did not attend office on Friday.

The resolution signed by 25 lawmakers, 23 from the PPP and two from the PML-N — its regional president Shah Ghulam Qadir and his predecessor Raja Farooq Haider — accused Haq of having “lost the trust of the Legislative Assembly”.

“We, the undersigned members of the Legislative Assembly, in accordance with Article 18(4) of the Interim Constitution, hereby submit a no-confidence motion, holding that the current Prime Minister [Chaudhry] Anwarul Haq has not only lost the trust of the Legislative Assembly but has also inflicted serious damage upon the constitutional, ideological, and democratic framework of the state, through his style of governance, political narrative, and confrontational conduct,” it read.

“We, the proposers, recognise Faisal Mumtaz Rathore as the nominee for prime minister and call for the earliest completion of the electoral process in accordance with constitutional and democratic requirements, so that the continuity of government formation remains intact,” the resolution added.

The resolution had left the section naming the proposed new leader blank while signatures were being collected. Rathore’s name was later handwritten into the document before submission.

Additionally, 19 of the 25 signatories were members of Haq’s own cabinet, and none resigned even after filing the no-confidence motion.

When a reporter asked Malik Zafar Iqbal as to why they had not resigned, he said: “Our decisions are taken by our central leadership, and as yet no such directive has been issued.”

Meanwhile, Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar summoned the Legislative Assembly to meet at 3pm on Monday to vote on the resolution.

PPP AJK President Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin, while speaking to the media earlier today outside Zardari House in Islamabad, along with PPP leader Raja Pervez Ashraf, said, “Our chairman has decided … that Faisal Rathore, who is the general secretary of our party in AJK, will be nominated for the position of PM.”

He detailed that “we are going to table the vote of no confidence today, so god willing, in the next few days, PPP will have its government in AJK.”

“The voting will begin on Monday,” he later said in response to a question.

“Faisal Rathore is an educated young man; he has a lot of experience and has been part of the assembly before,” Ashraf said.

Before announcing the nomination, Ashraf told the media that the party had taken an “excellent decision”, reaffirming that the PPP “remains committed to the people of Kashmir”.

“Right now, we want to ease their hardships and pave the way for the next elections,” he said.

Chaudhry echoed similar thoughts, stating that the generations of party leaders had “always taken a strong stance on Kashmir”.

Before making the announcement, Chaudhry said, “We have the required number (in the legislative assembly), I feel that we have the golden number.”

Ashraf told the media that PPP was the “largest parliamentary party (in the legislative assembly) and we have the support of our allies.”

He expressed confidence that his party “is in the position to form the government,” noting that they had the required “strength.”

He continued: “PPP will bring peace to Kashmir and ease their hardships; the promises made to the Action Committee will be fulfilled as well.”

On October 28, sources had told Dawn that the names of Chaudhry Latif Akbar, Chaudhry Yasin, Rathore and Sardar Yaqub were under consideration for the top slot.

Under the AJK Constitution, the movers of a no-confidence resolution are required to name a successor to the sitting prime minister.

Who is Faisal Rathore?

A senior figure in PPP’s AJK chapter, Rathore has long been associated with the region’s politics.

Born on April 11, 1978, in Rawalpindi, he is the son of the late Raja Mumtaz Hussain Rathore, a former AJK prime minister who also served as senior minister, leader of the opposition and speaker of the Legislative Assembly at various stages of his political career.

His mother, Begum Farhat Rathore, belonged to a migrant family from Indian-occupied Kashmir; she was a member of the state legislature and headed the PPP Women’s Wing.

The Rathore family, based in AJK’s remote Haveli district, is regarded among the founding political families of the PPP in Azad Kashmir.

Rathore completed his early education in Rawalpindi and graduated from the University of the Punjab. After the death of his father, his elder brother Masood Mumtaz Rathore was elected to the AJK Legislative Assembly in 1999 for the remainder of the term.

He first entered electoral politics in 2006 from LA-17 Haveli Kahuta. He won his first assembly seat in the 2011 general elections on a PPP ticket and later served in the cabinet of then prime minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed as minister for AJK Logging and Sawmills Corporation and minister for electricity.

In 2016, he was arrested in what was widely viewed as a politically motivated case but was subsequently exonerated.

The politician was appointed secretary general of the PPP AJK chapter on March 23, 2017, a position he continues to hold.

In the 2021 elections, he returned to the assembly and remained an active voice on the opposition benches.

In 2023, Rathore joined the coalition government led by Haq as minister for Local Government and Rural Development and was also tasked with heading the government’s negotiation committee with the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee.

Known for his soft-spoken, conciliatory and non-controversial disposition, he is seen as a figure who maintains working relationships across political and administrative circles.

He has also worked in national media, hosting a regular programme on a private TV channel.

Within the PPP, he is considered a trusted confidant of Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Faryal Talpur and is viewed as a representative of the party’s ideological and middle-class cadre.