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GB poll results broke ‘Centre’s monopoly’, says CM-designate
🇵🇰 Pakistan /Elections & Politics

GB poll results broke ‘Centre’s monopoly’, says CM-designate

From Dawn · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has broken the perception that only the ruling party at the center can govern Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).
  • The newly elected GB Assembly will convene to take oaths and elect its leader, speaker, and deputy speaker.
  • The PPP's nominee for chief minister, Advocate Amjad Hussain, highlighted the region's democratic transformation and the party's proposal for provisional provincial status for GB.

Advocate Amjad Hussain, nominated by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari as the chief minister candidate for Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), stated that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has shattered the notion that only the party in power at the federal level can form a government in the region. The first session of the newly elected GB Assembly is scheduled for Monday to administer oaths and elect the leader of the house, speaker, and deputy speaker.

This is a transformation and the Centre should respect it

— Advocate Amjad HussainHussain told Dawn, referring to a party other than the one ruling in Islamabad coming to power in GB.

Hussain described the development as a "transformation" that the federal government should respect. He emphasized that for the first time, the people of GB have voted for democratic political parties, rejecting traditional, ethnic, religious, and sub-nationalist parties. The PPP's proposal to grant GB provisional provincial status is intended to counter India's 2019 decision to revoke the special status of Indian-held Kashmir.

Granting GB provisional provincial status, along with representation in the National Assembly and Senate until a plebiscite in Kashmir, would strengthen Pakistan's position on the dispute, Hussain argued. He recalled that the then-ruling PTI had sabotaged a similar amendment in 2022.

This is the first time that the people of GB have voted for democratic political parties, while rejecting traditional and ethnic trends as well as religious and sub-nationalist parties

— Advocate Amjad HussainHussain highlighted the democratic shift in the region's voting patterns.

Earlier, leaders from the PPP and the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) announced an agreement for the IPP to support the PPP in forming the government. Consultations also indicated support from PTI-backed member-elect Sohail Abbas Shah and Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen's Kazim Mesum for the PPP's candidates for chief minister, speaker, and deputy speaker.

This is the first time, the party had advanced the concept of granting provisional provincial status to GB to counter the decision of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to revoke the special status of India-held Kashmir in 2019.

— Advocate Amjad HussainHussain explained the PPP's proposal for GB's political status in relation to Kashmir.
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Originally published by Dawn. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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