MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) cabinet on Friday held its maiden meeting, which ran for more than two hours and approved all but two items on an 11-point agenda, a minister said.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, cabinet member Sardar Javed Ayoub said the cabinet endorsed the announcements made by Prime Minister Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore in his maiden address after his election as leader of the house.

These included the permanent regularisation of grade-1 employees working against available posts, as well as the upgradation of drivers from grade-4 to grade-5.

He said the prime minister had directed that the issue of the Health Card be reviewed within a week and resubmitted to the cabinet for approval.

Prime Minister Rathore allocates portfolios to his 18 ministers and two advisers

Mr Ayoub said educational institutions had long suffered from a shortage of staff, while many areas also required the establishment of new schools. The prime minister instructed that a comprehensive proposal on the matter be prepared and placed before the cabinet within a week.

Quoting the prime minister, he said the government would “leave no stone unturned” to accomplish months’ worth of work within weeks.

Mr Ayoub said 30 kilometres of roads would be provided in each constituency. In addition, some 500 kilometres of inter- and intra-district roads in poor condition would also be taken up, with necessary planning to be forwarded to the relevant forum.

He said the cabinet also reviewed several issues concerning government employees, particularly the long-pending pensions of local council staff, which the prime minister ordered should be immediately released. Another major issue related to the employees clearing mountainous area roads of landslides in rainy seasons at the peril of their lives. The cabinet approved provision of risk allowance to them.

Portfolios allotted

Earlier, Prime Minister Rathore allocated portfolios to his 18 ministers and two advisers.

According to an official notification, senior-most minister Mian Abdul Waheed retained the department of law, justice, parliamentary affairs and human rights, which he had also held in the previous coalition government.

Among the other old PPP stalwarts, Sardar Javed Ayoub was assigned forests, wildlife, fisheries and the Muzaffarabad Development Authority; Syed Bazil Ali Naqvi was given health and population welfare; Javed Iqbal Budhanvi received food; and Nabila Ayoub was allocated Kashmir cause, arts and languages.

The coveted portfolios of works and communications (C&W), local government and rural development, and finance and inland revenue also went to the old PPP loyalists, Sardar Ziaul Qamar, Chaudhry Amar Yasin and Chaudhry Qasim Majeed, respectively. Mr Yasin is the son of PPP president Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin, who had been overlooked for the office of prime minister in the recent change.

Most recent entrants to the PPP retained the portfolios they had held in the Chaudhry Anwarul Haq-led coalition government. Deevan Ali Chughtai resumed elementary and secondary education; Malik Zafar Iqbal higher education; Chaudhry Arshad energy and water resources; Chaudhry Muhammad Rasheed the Power Development Organisation; Yasir Sultan physical planning and housing; Chaudhry Akhlaq revenue, stamps and evacuee property; and Faheem Akhtar Rabbani tourism and archaeology.

Mr Arshad and Mr Sultan are the brother-in-law and son, respectively, of AJK President Barrister Sultan Mahmood.

Sardar Mohammad Hussain, also a new entrant into the PPP who previously held population welfare, was assigned social welfare, women development, zakat and usher.

Mohammad Rafique Nayyar and Chaudhry Ali Shan Soni, who were not part of the previous coalition setup, were allotted religious affairs and auqaf; and agriculture, animal husbandry, irrigation, dairy development and small dams, respectively. Both had joined the PPP slightly earlier than the other newcomers.

Among the advisers, Fahad Yaqoob was given trade and industry, labour, sericulture and the Government Printing Press, while Sardar Ahmad Saghir received sports, youth and culture.

Mr Yaqoob is the son of senior PPP legislator and former president Haji Yaqoob Khan, while Mr Saghir, who had also served as adviser in the Mr Haq-led government, is the son of MLA Shahida Saghir, who recently joined the PPP.

Contrary to speculation that the information department would go to Mr Nayyar, the prime minister retained the portfolio with himself. Similarly, rehabilitation, information technology and civil defence were also retained by the premier.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2025