PML-N Local Leadership Decides Not to Vote for Iftikhar Gilani, Claims Absar Alam
ISLAMABAD: The political crisis in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has intensified, with signs of rebellion emerging within the local leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) following party president Nawaz Sharif’s nomination of Barrister Syed Iftikhar Ali Gilani for the post of AJK prime minister.
Anchorperson and political analyst Absar Alam has claimed that former AJK prime minister Raja Farooq Haider and PML-N AJK President Shah Ghulam Qadir have refused to accept the decision reportedly taken by the party’s central leadership behind closed doors in Islamabad.
کشمیر بُحران شدید ہو گیا۔
آزاد کشمیر کے سابق وزیر اعظم راجہ فاروق حیدر اور مسلم لیگ ن کے صدر شاہ غلام قادر کا غیرمُنتخب ممبر افتخار گیلانی کو وزیر اعظم بناکر کشمیر پر مُسلط کرنے کے فیصلے پر واضح اختلافگیلانی کو ووٹ نہ دینے کا فیصلہ !!!!
— Absar Alam (@AbsarAlamHaider) August 27, 2026
According to Alam, both leaders strongly objected to the decision to make an unelected individual who had lost the general elections the prime minister of AJK. He further claimed that the two leaders had decided not to vote for Barrister Iftikhar Gilani in the election for the leader of the house.
The AJK Legislative Assembly is scheduled to elect its leader of the house, or prime minister, on August 28. The reported stance of the PML-N’s local leadership has created a major political and constitutional challenge for the party’s central leadership, which must secure the required numerical majority in the assembly by the evening of August 27.
