Mirpur: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) nominee Barrister Iftikhar Hussain Gilani was elected Prime Minister of Azad Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, defeating his lone rival, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Mukhtar Abbasi, who secured 14 votes. Gilani emerged as the 17th prime minister in the parliamentary history of Azad Jammu and Kashmir since the introduction of the parliamentary system in 1975.
He was nominated for the top slot by PML-N President and former Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Thursday and subsequently filed his nomination papers for the election held during a special session of the newly elected AJK Legislative Assembly in Muzaffarabad, chaired by Speaker Chaudhry Tariq Farooq.
Barrister Gilani, who was elected to the 53-member AJK Legislative Assembly on a technocrat seat on August 24, later took oath as prime minister at the President House. Acting President of AJK Chaudhry Tariq Farooq administered the oath at a ceremony attended by senior government and political figures, lawmakers, party workers and representatives of various sections of civil society, including journalists, lawyers, business leaders, religious and social activists and workers of the Kashmir freedom movement.
Meanwhile, former PML-N presidential candidate for the premiership and AJK party president Shah Ghulam Qadir remained absent from the special session, reportedly in protest over being overlooked for the coveted position.
Interestingly, PPP’s Mukhtar Abbasi, who was defeated by Gilani in Friday’s election for prime minister, had defeated him in the second phase of the 2026 AJK general elections held on August 2 through direct adult franchise. With Gilani’s election, the number of premiership terms under the parliamentary system in AJK has reached 17, following 16 completed terms since 1975. Former prime ministers include Khan Abdul Hamid Khan, Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan, Raja Mumtaz Hussain Rathore, Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan, Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry, Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider Khan, Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan Niazi, Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, Chaudhry Anwar-ul-Haq and Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore. Sikandar Hayat Khan, Attique Ahmed Khan and Farooq Haider Khan served two terms each, while the latest election makes Gilani the 17th premier in the territory’s parliamentary history.
Shah Ghulam Qadir, who had been widely regarded as a strong contender for the premiership, has served twice as Speaker of the AJK Legislative Assembly and also held ministerial and opposition leader positions. He was previously elected from Valley-4 Rawalpindi before shifting his electoral base to Neelum Valley after 2011. Qadir won from Neelum Valley in the 2016 and 2021 elections and secured a third consecutive victory in the 2026 polls, defeating his nearest PPP rival. His absence from Friday’s session added a notable political dimension to Barrister Iftikhar Gilani’s election and the formation of the new AJK government.
