Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Iftikhar Gillani has formed an eight-member cabinet, keeping the new government’s ministerial team relatively small.
Seven directly elected lawmakers and one member elected on a reserved seat for Kashmiris living abroad have been inducted as ministers.
The newly appointed ministers took oath at a ceremony held at the AJK Presidency on Friday. Acting President Chaudhry Tariq Farooq administered the oath in the presence of Prime Minister Gillani.
PML-N regional president Shah Ghulam Qadir also attended the ceremony.
Eight Lawmakers Join Gillani’s Cabinet
The newly inducted ministers include Raja Saqib Majeed and Dr Mustafa Bashir Abbasi from Muzaffarabad.
Sardar Mir Akbar has been inducted from Bagh, while Raja Riasat and Raja Umair Naeem represent Kotli.
The cabinet also includes Waqar Noor from Bhimber and Chaudhry Azhar Sadiq from Mirpur.
The eighth cabinet member, Chaudhry Abdul Rehman Arain, is from Kotli and is a businessman based in Birmingham.
Arain was elected on a reserved seat representing Kashmiris living abroad.
Four of the newly appointed ministers have previous cabinet experience. Abbasi, Noor, Akbar and Sadiq have served as ministers in the past.
The remaining members are entering the AJK cabinet for the first time.
The portfolios of the newly appointed ministers were not announced immediately.
The ministers thanked Prime Minister Gillani for placing his confidence in them and pledged to work for the public.
Key PML-N Figures Left Out
Several prominent lawmakers were not included in the new cabinet.
Former minister and senior parliamentarian Noreen Arif was among those left out. She has been elected from a territorial constituency in three separate elections, in 2006, 2016 and 2026, and has also served four terms on reserved seats.
None of the nine PML-N lawmakers elected from refugee constituencies in Pakistan was inducted into the cabinet.
The tenth PML-N refugee constituency lawmaker has already been elected deputy speaker of the AJK Legislative Assembly.
Social media speculation had suggested that several additional lawmakers could receive government positions.
However, no advisers or special assistants were appointed alongside the eight ministers.
Cabinet Size Rules Have Changed
The size of the AJK cabinet has changed considerably under different governments.
The 13th Amendment to the AJK Constitution, enacted in 2018, introduced a limit restricting the cabinet to 30 percent of the Legislative Assembly’s total strength.
The limit allowed a maximum of 16 ministers, along with two advisers and two special assistants.
The restriction became applicable to the next assembly in 2021. The subsequent PTI governments led by Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi and Sardar Tanveer Ilyas operated under the restriction.
However, the cabinet limit was removed in June 2023 after the formation of the coalition government led by Chaudhry Anwarul Haq.
The change allowed more lawmakers from the PTI forward bloc, PPP and PML-N to receive positions as ministers, advisers and special assistants.
The previous PPP government had maintained a cabinet of 20 members, including 18 ministers and two advisers.
PML-N Holds Strong Majority
The latest cabinet formation comes after the 2026 direct elections for 38 AJK constituencies.
The PML-N secured 25 seats, while the PPP won 12 seats.
The only elected member of the Awami Dast-o-Bazu party also joined the PML-N, further strengthening the ruling party’s position in the assembly.
Prime Minister Iftikhar Gillani’s decision to begin with an eight-member cabinet keeps the initial ministerial team significantly below the maximum cabinet size previously permitted under AJK’s constitutional framework.
