The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Sunday announced its nominee for the position of chief minister in Gilgit-Baltistan, days after emerging as the single largest party in elections held in the region.
In a statement, the party said its chairman, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, has selected Advocate Amjad Hussain, a lawyer by profession and a senior party leader, for the top executive post.
India has consistently maintained that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including Gilgit-Baltistan, are integral and inalienable parts of India by virtue of the complete, legal and irrevocable accession of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir to India in 1947.
Following the elections held on June 7, India lodged a strong protest with Pakistan, reiterating that Gilgit-Baltistan remains part of Indian territory that has been illegally and forcibly occupied by Pakistan. New Delhi also rejected the legitimacy of the electoral exercise conducted in the region.
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The PPP emerged as the largest political party in the elections, securing 12 seats in the 24-member Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly and positioning itself to lead the next administration.
Announcing the decision on Sunday, the PPP stated that Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had chosen provincial party president Advocate Amjad Hussain as the candidate for chief minister. The statement added that the party chairman had instructed Hussain to move forward with government formation efforts while focusing on constitutional, political and economic issues concerning the people of the region.
Hussain brings considerable political experience to the role. He served as a member of the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly from 2020 to 2025 and was previously a member of the region's legislative council between 2009 and 2014.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reported that the PPP is set to form the government with the support of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) under a power-sharing arrangement similar to the coalition formula currently operating at the federal level.
According to a statement cited by the newspaper, the decision to establish a coalition government was reached through mutual trust, consultation and consensus between the two parties.
Local leaders of the PPP and PML-N reportedly finalised a proposed framework under which the chief minister's position would go to the PPP, while the offices of governor and leader of the opposition would be allocated to the PML-N.
The report further stated that the deputy speaker's post would also be assigned to the PML-N as part of the broader power-sharing understanding between the coalition partners.
PML-N's regional president, Hafeez Hafeezur Rehman, said the party's local leadership had endorsed the decision taken by the central leadership to support the PPP in forming the next government in Gilgit-Baltistan, paving the way for the coalition to assume office in the coming days.
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