By Staff Reporter
GILGIT: Pakistan Peoples Party leader Advocate Amjad Hussain was elected unopposed as chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan on Monday, capping a day in which the sixth assembly of the mountainous territory was sworn in, its speaker and deputy speaker elected, and a three-party governing coalition locked into place.
The election was a formality from the start. When PPP’s newly elected speaker, Imran Nadeem Shigri, set 7:40 p.m. as the deadline for the submission and withdrawal of nomination papers for leader of the house, no rival stepped forward. At 8 p.m., Shigri declared Hussain elected by default, the outcome never seriously in doubt after the PPP’s two coalition partners — the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party — pledged their backing ahead of the session.
Hussain, who serves as president of the PPP’s Gilgit-Baltistan chapter and won his own seat from the GBA-1 constituency in the June 7 general elections, becomes the territory’s fifth chief minister.
In a brief maiden address to the assembly, Hussain said eliminating unemployment would be a central pillar of his government’s agenda and vowed to keep the Chief Minister House open to ordinary citizens around the clock. Gilgit-Baltistan, he said, was among the world’s most resource-rich regions, and his administration would channel those natural endowments toward human development rather than allow them to go untapped.
He thanked PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for nominating him and singled out Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for what he described as recognition of the PPP’s electoral mandate — a reference to the federal government’s tacit endorsement of the coalition arrangement. He also acknowledged the role of IPP chief Aleem Khan in facilitating the government’s formation.
The session that produced Hussain’s election had begun early in the morning, when all 30 sworn-in members of the new assembly gathered for its inaugural sitting. Outgoing speaker Nazir Ahmed administered the oath of office to 21 lawmakers elected on general seats, six women members returned on reserved seats, and three technocrats. Results in three general constituencies remain pending, held up by ongoing legal and electoral proceedings.
Ahmed adjourned proceedings at 10 a.m. and reconvened them at 4 p.m., announcing at that point the election schedule for speaker and deputy speaker and inviting nomination papers until 5:15 p.m. He also secured the house’s approval to suspend relevant procedural rules, allowing elections for speaker, deputy speaker, and leader of the house to be conducted on the same day — a procedural expedient that compressed the usual timeline and cleared the way for the evening’s outcome.
With no challengers emerging in either race, Shigri of the PPP and Malik Kifayatur Rehman of the PML-N were both returned unopposed. Ahmed administered the oath to Shigri, who then in turn swore in Rehman as deputy speaker. The PML-N’s Hafeezur Rehman, the party’s local president, was separately confirmed as leader of the opposition, following a formal requisition submitted by opposition members.
The assembly hall was crowded throughout the proceedings with guests of newly elected lawmakers, party officials, journalists and other observers. Press galleries, however, filled with party supporters who chanted slogans for the winning candidates. Among those present in the VIP galleries were PPP central general secretary Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, information secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira, and Gilgit-Baltistan Governor Syed Mehdi Shah.
Following Hussain’s speech, Shigri adjourned the assembly for an indefinite period. It was announced that the formal oath-taking ceremony for the new chief minister would be held after the conclusion of Ashura, the Shia Muslim commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, which falls in the coming days.
The PPP emerged from the June 7 polls as the largest single party in the 33-seat assembly, winning 13 seats. The PML-N secured nine, the IPP six, while Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen and a PTI-backed independent candidate each claimed one seat. The three remaining seats are under dispute. The PML-N and IPP had announced before Monday’s session that they would back the PPP across all three leadership votes, giving the governing alliance a commanding majority and ensuring the day’s proceedings passed without contest.
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