PPP nominates Raja Faisal Rathore as new AJK prime minister

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has nominated Raja Faisal Rathore for the position of Azad Jammu and Kashmir prime minister, ARY News reported.

According to PPP leader Chaudhry Yasin, Party leadership including President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, and Faryal Talpur have expressed full confidence in Raja Faisal Rathore.

Faisal Rathore is the son of former AJK Prime Minister Mumtaz Rathore and currently serves as the Secretary General of the PPP in Azad Kashmir.

Chaudhry Yasin added that the party has sufficient numbers to secure his election as the new leader of the House.

Earlier, the parliamentary party meeting of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) ended without any breakthrough as internal divisions over the nomination of the next AJK Prime Minister persisted.

According to sources, deep rifts remain within the PPP’s AJK parliamentary party, which is reportedly divided into three major groups — one led by Sardar Yaqoob Khan, another by Chaudhry Latif Akbar, and the third by Chaudhry Yasin. Despite repeated efforts, the central PPP leadership has so far failed to bring unity among the factions.

Sources said both factions refused to withdraw their support for their respective candidates, leading to a deadlock. The meeting concluded without a consensus on a single nominee for the top office.

The PPP leadership, after failing to persuade the divided parliamentary party decided to take the final decision on the AJK Prime Minister’s nomination itself, party sources added.