MIRPUR (Parliament Times): Azad Jammu Kashmir Legislative Assembly, lower house of parliament of the state, witnessed historic day on Monday when the 53-seat house elected senior leader of Pakistan Peoples Party Azad Kashmir Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore as the 16th Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir state with a thumping majority securing 36 votes in the Legislatature, official sources said
Our Special Jammu Kashmir state Correspondent Altaf Hamid Rao reports from Mirpur that
on this occasion, the gallery of the Legislative Assembly was full of PPP Azad Jammu Kashmir leaders,and workers besides supporters of the newly elected prime minister.
When Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore was announced to had been elected as the Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the atmosphere of the Legislative Assembly was echoed with slogans of Jeay Bhutto, Jeay Benazir, Jeay Asif Zardari, Jeay Bilawal Bhutto and Jeay Faryal Talpur. The newly elected Prime Minister Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, who was born on April 11, 1978 in Rawalpindi, belongs to a disinguished political family.
His father, late Raja Mumtaz Hussain Rathore, had served Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir in 1990, while his mother, Mohtarma Begum Farhat Rathore, was also a member of the Legislative Assembly and was the head of the PPP Women’s Wing. Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore’s elder brother, Raja Masood Mumtaz Rathore, was also a member of the Legislative Assembly.
Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore was first elected as a member of the Assembly in 2011 and held the positions of Minister of Endowment and Power in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed. Since 2017. He has been the General Secretary of the PPP Azad Jammu Kashmir chapter and was also the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development in the outgoing PM Anwar-ul-Haq led coalition government.
The no-confidence motion against the PM Anwar-ul-Haq was submitted on November 14, which was blessed with joint support of the PPP and the PML-N.
A simple majority of 27 votes was required in the 53 members of the Assembly, which was easily achieved on Monday with heavy majority of 36 votes in favour of the no confidence motion ousting the PM Anwar-ul-Haq from the office of leader of the house.
