The in-house change in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Assembly has been postponed due to delays in the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) nomination of an alternative Leader of the House. This has led to repeated delays in submitting the no-confidence motion, sources reveal.
Despite claiming a numerical majority, the PPP has struggled to assert its position for more than a week and a half. Sources suggest that the no-confidence motion will only be moved after PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari returns to the country.
The delay is also connected to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) demand for early elections, which could limit PPP’s ability to gain political advantage through in-house changes. The current assembly’s term is set to end in July, and typically, two months before elections, development work is halted, and authority over appointments and transfers is withdrawn.
The PML-N is reportedly firm on holding elections in March, meaning that any new government would lose powers by January, two months before the vote. This would leave the PPP unable to achieve its political objectives in December and January. The party’s insistence on completing the assembly’s full term is said to be one of the key factors behind the deadlock.
Meanwhile, approximately 80% of AJK’s development budget remains unspent, and around 2,000 recruitment positions, along with initiatives like health cards, could provide political leverage for a new government.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has claimed that PPP is in a strong position to form the government in AJK, as the sitting prime minister faces a no-confidence motion. The PPP had previously announced its intention to take over the government in AJK during a meeting chaired by former President Asif Ali Zardari. The party’s Azad Kashmir Parliamentary Group also met in Islamabad to discuss the political situation.
On October 26, ten members of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) forward bloc in AJK announced they would join the PPP, helping the party secure the majority needed to form the government. The following day, PPP and PML-N agreed to initiate a no-confidence motion against the AJK government, with PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal pledging to support the motion from the opposition benches.
However, the next day, in an unexpected move, PTI announced it would disassociate itself from the opposition alliance’s no-confidence motion and the process to elect a new prime minister, calling the move a “political game” intended to undermine public representation.
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