No-confidence motion submitted against AJK PM Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan Niazi by PTI own members

MUZAFFARABAD, April 12 (SABAH): A no-confidence motion was filed against Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan Niazi on Tuesday by dissenting members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The motion was filed under Article 18 of the AJK’s interim Constitution and has the signatures of 25 members of the legislative assembly.

Senior minister and PTI AJK President Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan has been nominated as the new leader of the House. Those who submitted no-confidence motion include Abdul Majid Khan, Muhammad Akbar Chaudhry, Chaudhry Ali Shan Sooni, Sardar Tanveer Illyas Khan, Fahim Rabbani, Chaudhry Arshad, Chaudhry Ikhlaq, Yasir Sultan, Khawaja Farooq Ahmed, Azhar Sadiq, Dewan Ali Khan and Muhammad Akmal Sargala.

The move comes after the former prime minister Imran Khan was ousted from the government on April 9.

Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan Niazi, 61, was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly on July 25, 2021, elections from Poonch district, which lies on the Line of Control (LoC).

His nomination superseded several top party leaders and strong candidates for the coveted post, particularly PTI Kashmir president and former premier Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry, and billionaire Sardar Tanveer Ilyas.

Born in 1959, Niazi is a veteran politician who started his political journey as a district councillor.

Hailing from Darra Sher Khan Village, which sits on the LoC, he was twice elected as a district councillor between 1980 and 1990.

He started his mainstream political journey from the platform of Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (JKMC) – the oldest political party of undivided Jammu and Kashmir – in the 2006 elections.