Attique sworn in as PM

MIRPUR - Muslim Conference Chief Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan Thursday was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Azad Jammu & Kashmir in Muzaffarabad on Thursday. AJK President Raja Zulqarnain Khan administered the oath to Sardar Attique at a special ceremony held at the Presidency. Political leaders and workers, members of the AJK legislative assembly belonging to Muslim Conference, PPP AJK and PML besides the senior government officials attended the ceremony. Earlier, Sardar Attique took vote of confidence as new Leader of the House in the assembly which met with Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir in the chair. Sardar Attique secured 39 votes in the 49-seat assembly, the lower house of the AJK Parliament. Ten members belonging to the opposition (the rivals of Attique) did not participate in the proceedings of the assembly session which was later chaired by Deputy Speaker Mrs Meherun Nisa. Nine members belonging to the outgoing Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider group boycotted the session and staged a walk out. Barrister Sultan Mahmood of PML also did not attend the session. Attique, elected unopposed as AJK Prime Minister Emerged as the only candidate to the office As none of his rivals filed the nomination papers to contest election to the PM office by the stipulated time of 6.00 p.m Tuesday. Attique took the oath of his office as the fourth Prime Minister of the incumbent Muslim Conference-led AJK government soon after taking the vote of confidence in the house. It will be second term of Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan as the Prime Minister of AJK in the five-year constitutional term of incumbent regime. Earlier, he held the office till January 6 last year when he was removed from the office as a result of a no-confidence motion moved by the forward bloc comprising some rebels emerging from within the ranks of his Muslim Conference. He was replaced by Sardar Yaqoob Ahmed Khan.