Iftikhar Gilani said Pakistan is incomplete without Kashmir and Kashmir is also incomplete without Pakistan.
MUZAFFARABAD: Newly elected Azad Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Barrister Iftikhar Gilani said Friday that Pakistan is incomplete without Kashmir and Kashmir is also incomplete without Pakistan.
In his first address to the assembly after being elected prime minister, Gilani said the Kashmir issue was not a dispute over territory but concerned the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination under United Nations resolutions.
He condemned India’s actions of August 5, 2019, saying legislation could not make Kashmir part of India.
Gilani thanked Pakistan’s armed forces and Field Marshal Asim Munir, saying the military had helped ensure peace for people in Kashmir.
He also thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. He said his government would seek to bring similar changes to Azad Kashmir as those introduced by Maryam Nawaz in Punjab.
Gilani said his government would introduce a third-party recruitment system similar to the National Testing Service, promote the digital economy and focus on skills-based education. He acknowledged challenges related to internet connectivity in Azad Kashmir but said conditions would improve.
He also pledged reforms in the health and education sectors and said a digital citizen portal would be launched to address public complaints.
Gilani, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz lawmaker, was elected the 17th prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir after securing 30 votes. Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Sardar Mukhtar Khan received 14 votes.
Gilani first entered the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly in 2011 and has previously served as education minister. In the latest elections, he was elected to the assembly on a technocrat seat on a PML-N ticket.
PML-N had finalized Gilani as its candidate for prime minister during a key consultation meeting on government formation in Azad Kashmir.
