Gul Bar Khan elected Gilgit-Baltistan’s chief minister

Gul Bar Khan, the head of Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf’s (PTI) forward bloc, was chosen as the new chief minister of Gilgit Baltistan on Thursday, days after controversies clouded the election for the position. Gul Bar was elected without opposition after receiving 19 votes from the 20 members who were present in the house and after three other candidates withdrew their nominations. Nawaz Khan Naji, an independent legislator, voted against the new CM, which was supported by lawmakers from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The PTI’s “like-minded group” of 11 people boycotted the election, alleging fraud.

The election for the coveted post was triggered after the region’s top court disqualified former CM Khalid Khursheed was disqualified for holding a fake degree.

Following his removal from office, the PTI divided into two factions — the forward bloc and the like-minded or ‘humkhayal’ group, which boycotted the election.