Haji Gulbar Khan becomes new CM of GB

Kashmir: Haji Gulbar Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Forward Block has been elected Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan on Thursday (today).

According to details, 20 members of Assembly attended the meeting chaired by Speaker Nazir Advocate. Haji Gulbar Khan was voted by 19 out of 20 members of the Assembly. 10 members of the PTI Hum Khayal Group boycotted the election.

It is pertinent to note that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had announced their support for Haji Gulbar Khan of PTI Forward Block for the post.

Earlier on July 4, Chief Court of Gilgit-Baltistan disqualified Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid Khan in the fake degree case. PPP member Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly Ghulam Shahzad Agha challenged Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid Khan's law degree and demanded his disqualification under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution of Pakistan.

After the disqualification of Khalid Khurshid, PTI divided into two groups in Gilgit-Baltistan. One group was formed by former Health Minister Haji Gulbar under the name of Forward Block and the other was formed by Javed Munwa under the name of Hum Khayal Group.

In the 33-member House, Khalid Khurshid was disqualified, leaving 31 members except the Speaker of the Assembly.

Three parties of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)—PPP, PML-N and 09 members of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) supported Haji Gulbar of Forward Block.

19 of them divided and supported Haji Gulbar Khan thus he became the fourth elected Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan for the next two and a half years.