Qayyum Niazi Elected Prime Minister Of Azad Kashmir

Abdul Qayyum Niazi was elected on Wednesday as the prime minister of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, also known as Azad Kashmir.

A lawmaker from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party in power in Pakistan, Niazi secured 33 votes in the 53-member Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.

Chaudhry Latif Akbar, his rival candidate who was supported by both the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz, bagged 15 votes.

Earlier in the day, the Pakistani prime minister nominated the little-known lawmaker for the coveted post. Imran Khan, who is also the chairman of PTI, which bagged a comfortable majority in the July 25 polls, announced the nomination in a Twitter post.

Niazi was elected from Poonch district, which lies on the Line of Control – a de facto border that divides Jammu and Kashmir between nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India.

He superseded several strong candidates for the top post, particularly PTI Kashmir president and former premier Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry, and billionaire Sardar Tanveer Ilyas.

Parliamentary system of governance

Following the division of Jammu and Kashmir into Pakistani and Indian-controlled parts in 1947, the AJK was governed under the presidential form of government.

In 1975, then Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto introduced the parliamentary system for the region.

This first government, headed by Bhutto's PPP, was dismissed in 1977 after the imposition of martial law in Pakistan by then-army chief Gen. Ziaul Haq. There were no elections until 1985.

The Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir is held by Pakistan and India in parts and claimed both in full. A small sliver of land is also controlled by China. -