The newly appointed ministers of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) took oath at a ceremony held at the Presidency, with Acting President Chaudhry Tariq Farooq administering the oath in the presence of Prime Minister Iftikhar Gillani.
PML-N AJK President Shah Ghulam Qadir also attended the ceremony.
Qadir, who had initially been considered a potential candidate for the prime minister’s post, had opposed Gillani’s nomination by the party leadership. He had also stayed away from Gillani’s election as leader of the house and his subsequent swearing-in ceremony on Aug 28.
The eight-member cabinet includes Raja Saqib Majeed and Dr Mustafa Bashir Abbasi from Muzaffarabad, Sardar Mir Akbar from Bagh, Raja Riasat and Raja Umair Naeem from Kotli, Waqar Noor from Bhimber and Chaudhry Azhar Sadiq from Mirpur.
The eighth member, Chaudhry Abdul Rehman Arain, is a businessman based in Birmingham and represents Kashmiris living abroad after being elected on a reserved seat.
Abbasi, Noor, Akbar and Sadiq have previously served as ministers, while the remaining cabinet members are serving in the cabinet for the first time.
Former minister and senior legislator Noreen Arif was not included in the cabinet. Arif is the only woman to have won a territorial constituency in three direct elections, in 2006, 2016 and 2026, and has also served four terms on reserved seats.
None of the nine PML-N legislators elected from refugee constituencies in Pakistan were inducted into the cabinet. The 10th PML-N legislator from a refugee constituency has already been elected deputy speaker of the AJK Legislative Assembly.
Despite speculation on social media, the government did not appoint any advisers or special assistants. The portfolios of the newly inducted ministers were also not announced immediately.
Speaking to journalists after the oath-taking ceremony, the ministers thanked Prime Minister Gillani for placing his confidence in them and pledged to perform their duties in the interest of the public.
Under the 13th Amendment to the AJK Constitution, introduced in 2018, the cabinet was limited to 30 per cent of the assembly’s total strength, allowing up to 16 ministers. The law also permitted the appointment of two advisers and two special assistants.
The restriction was made applicable from the beginning of the subsequent assembly in 2021. It therefore did not apply to the PML-N government that introduced the amendment, but the two successive PTI governments led by Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi and Sardar Tanveer Ilyas were required to follow the limit.
The cabinet cap was removed in June 2023, shortly after the formation of the coalition government led by Chaudhry Anwarul Haq. The change enabled the induction of more than 30 lawmakers from the PTI forward bloc, PPP and PML-N as ministers, advisers and special assistants.
The previous PPP government, however, maintained a cabinet of 20 members, comprising 18 ministers and two advisers, under an understanding with the then Joint Awami Action Committee.
In the recent direct elections for 38 constituencies, the PML-N won 25 seats, while the PPP secured 12. The sole elected member of the Awami Dast-o-Bazu party also joined the PML-N.
