MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Abdul Qayyum Niazi on Thursday tendered resignation from office to avoid a no trust motion set to be voted today.
The resignation comes on the heels of the no trust motion carried against Prime Minister Imran Khan who had appointed Qayyum Niazi as Prime Minister AJK.
Interestingly, the no confidence motion was tabled by rebels of the PTI lawmakers led by senior minister AJK Sardar Tanveer Ilyas who has accused Niazi of nepotism and wrongdoing.
Ahead of the resignation, Niazi sacked five members of his cabinet on Thursday.
The ministers include Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, Abdul Majid Khan, Ali Shan Soni, Khawaja Farooq and Akbar Ibrahim.
A spokesman for the AJK prime minister said that the ministers were shown the door on charges of misconduct, corruption and suspicious activities.
The sackings came two days after a no-confidence motion was submitted against Niazi. AJK Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Anwar-ul-Haq had called the session for voting on the no-confidence motion on April 15 at 10:00 am.
The motion, submitted on Tuesday by the Tanveer Ilyas faction of the ruling PTI, bore the signatures of 25 members of the Legislative Assembly. Senior Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas had been nominated as a candidate for the seat of prime minister.
Niazi was sworn in as the 13th prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in August 2021.
