Iftikhar Gilani Elected 17th Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir

 

PML-N-backed Barrister Syed Iftikhar Ali Gilani has been elected as the 17th Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). He secured 30 votes in the election held at the AJK Legislative Assembly in Muzaffarabad, defeating PPP candidate Sardar Mukhtar Ahmed Abbasi, who received 14 votes.

Gilani was nominated by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) a day before the election following consultations among the party leadership. A qualified lawyer, Gilani holds a barrister’s degree from Britain and first entered electoral politics in 2011, when he won a seat in the AJK Legislative Assembly from Muzaffarabad.

He retained his Assembly seat in the 2016 elections and later served as AJK education minister for five years during the PML-N government. Although he contested the 2021 and 2026 elections without success, he returned to the Assembly in 2026 after being inducted on a technocrat seat.

The PML-N emerged as the largest political force in the latest AJK elections, securing 25 of the 38 constituencies where polling was held among the 45 directly contested seats. Elections were conducted in phases between July 27 and August 10.

The newly elected AJK Assembly formally began its term on August 24, with 46 members taking oath. Gilani’s election now places him at the centre of the new administration as the region’s latest prime minister.