Daily Times

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Barrister Sultan Mahmood has summoned the Legislative Assembly session on Monday to elect the new prime minister after prorogation of the session consequent upon a verdict of the Supreme Court, earlier on Saturday.

The opposition had objected on the session convened by speaker on a requisition to take up a no-confidence motion as unlawful after the resignation of Prime Minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi and got a restrained order from the High Court. The candidate for prime ministership Sardar Tanveer Aliyas then moved the Supreme Court against that High Court order which handed down a verdict on the issue on Saturday. The Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court on Saturday ordered for issuance of fresh schedule of the election to the new prime minister through summoning of fresh session of AJK Legislative Assembly by the president. The full court, comprising Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram, Khan, Justice Khawaja Muhammad Nasim, Justice Raza Ali Khan and Justice Muhammad Younis Tahir, declared that “under Article 16 (3) of the AJK Interim Constitution 1974, if the prime minister resigns at the time when the assembly is not in session, only the president of the AJK State, has the power to summon the assembly session for election to the office of the new leader of the house / prime minister of AJK within 14 days after resignation and the speaker has no power to issue schedule for the election to the new prime minister / new leader of the house, independently”.