Iftikhar Gillani elected PoK PM after polls marred by protests, rigging claims

Islamabad: Barrister Iftikhar Ali Gillani was on Friday elected to the so-called post of prime minister of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) following recent elections marred by violent protests and allegations of massive rigging.

Gillani, of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), secured 30 of the 44 votes in the so-called legislative assembly during its session in Muzaffarabad, the region's capital.

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His challenger, Mukhtar Ahmed of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), secured 14 votes.

The assembly comprises 53 members, but its present strength is 46 because elections for seven seats in Poonch and Sudhnoti districts have yet to be held due to what authorities described as a law and order situation.

Only 44 lawmakers participated in the voting on Friday as the speaker did not cast his vote while PML-N regional president Shah Ghulam Qadir skipped the assembly session due to differences with his party.

PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif on Thursday nominated Gillani for the so-called post of prime minister.

The polls in the region's so-called legislative assembly were held in three phases on July 27, August 2 and August 3 and were marred by violent protests and allegations of rigging.

Gillani was defeated from a seat he contested directly but later elected to the legislative assembly on a technocrat seat.

Out of 53 seats in the PoK legislative assembly, 45 are directly elected, while eight are reserved for women, technocrats and clerics.

The PML-N has so far won 25 seats of the direct elections to 38 constituencies, and the PPP has won 12. The Awami Dast-o-Bazu party won one seat and supported the PML-N.

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Out of eight reserved seats, PML-N got six and the PPP two.

A large number of people under the banner of the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) have been holding protests in PoK since early June, in which several protesters and security officials were killed. The regional government banned the group in June.

The JAAC has been protesting against the 12 seats reserved for refugees, and the election of Gillani may add fuel to the fire as he was elected on a reserved seat after facing defeat on a general seat.

India maintains that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are integral and inalienable parts of it. New Delhi also asserts that Pakistan has been in "illegal and forcible occupation" of parts of these Union Territories.