PPP Moves No-Confidence Motion Against AJK Prime Minister

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has decided to move a no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), signaling a major political shift and distancing itself from the federal government.

The decision was approved during a high-level meeting chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari. Following the meeting, Zardari contacted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to discuss the political situation in AJK. In response, Shehbaz directed the PML-N AJK affairs committee to hold talks with the PPP.

To form a new government, the PPP needs the support of 27 members in the AJK Legislative Assembly. The party currently has 17 members, while PML-N holds 9, PTI has 4, and Muslim Conference and Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Party have one member each. A forward bloc of 20 members is also present in the assembly.

If the PML-N supports the PPP, the total number of seats would reach 26, still one short of the required majority. However, PML-N AJK President Shah Ghulam Qadir and former Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider have both announced that their party will sit in the opposition.

Sources say the PPP has begun intensifying contacts with the forward bloc members to secure the necessary numbers for forming a new government.

Significant political developments are expected in the coming days, though the PPP has not yet disclosed whether it has achieved the required majority.