MUZAFFARABAD: By a majority vote, Shah Ghulam Qadir and Sardar Farooq Ahmed Tahir of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz were elected speaker and deputy speaker of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly, respectively, here on Saturday.

Earlier, 48 of the total 49 members of the house took the oath of office, which was administered to them by the outgoing speaker, Sardar Ghulam Sadiq.

The lone member who did not turn up at the inaugural session of the assembly was Sardar Khalid Ibrahim, chief of the Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party (JKPP), an ally of the PML-N in the general elections.

He was said to be cross with the PML-N for casting its three votes in favour of the PPP’s candidate in Friday’s election for the reserved seats for women. Mr Ibrahim cast his vote for his JKPP’s nominee, which was the only vote she bagged.

After the members took the oath and signed the attendance register, Raja Nisar Ahmed Khan of the PML-N moved a motion for suspension of rules that envisage a gap of two days for election of speaker, deputy speaker and leader of the house.

The motion was approved by the majority following which election for the office of speaker was held.

Mr Qadir bagged 39 votes against four clinched by Aamir Ghaffar Lone of the PPP and three by Malik Na­waz of the Muslim Conference (MC).

After assuming the office as 12th speaker, Mr Qadir assured the house that he would run its proceedings in accordance with the law and rules of procedure, and would give equal importance to both sides of the political divide.

Later, he administered the oath to his deputy, Sardar Farooq Ahmed Tahir, who also secured 39 votes against five by Saghir Chughtai of the MC who was backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, and four by the Pakistan Peoples Party’s Shazia Akbar.

Mr Qadir had long contested elections from a Kashmiri refugees’ constituency in Rawalpindi. However, in 2011 he tried his luck from the Neelum valley and lost by a narrow margin to the PPP candidate.

However, this year he secured a smooth victory with the highest lead of 23,000 votes.

Apart from holding ministerial berths in previous governments, he held the office of speaker for four years, from July 2006 to August 2010. Similarly, Mr Tahir has remained deputy speaker in the past.

Later, the chair adjourned the house to meet again at 10am on Sunday for the election of the leader of the house.

Meanwhile, the PML-N lawmakers submitted as many as six nominations of Raja Farooq Haider for the position of leader of the house, while the PPP nominated Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin and MC-PTI nominated Deevan Ghulam Mohiuddin for the slot.

The new prime minister would be sworn in at 4pm on Sunday.

The election of the new AJK president will be held on Aug 15.

According to a notification, nomination papers may be submitted before the chief election commissioner between 10am and noon on Aug 11. The papers will be scrutinised the same day and may be withdrawn by noon on Aug 12.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2016