MUZAFFARABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Thursday constituted a 10-member parliamentary board to finalise party tickets for the upcoming general elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

The board includes PPP AJK affairs in-charge Faryal Talpur, regional president Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin, party secretary general and AJK Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, and Legislative Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, who is also serving as acting president following the death of former president Barrister Sultan Mahmood on January 31.

Former AJK president and prime minister Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, senior minister Mian Abdul Waheed, former minister Sardar Qamar-uz-Zaman, and former prime minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas are also among its members.

Former AJK minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Ashraf and party leader Chaudhry Riaz, who assists Ms Talpur in AJK affairs, have also been included in the board.

According to a statement posted on the PPP’s verified social media accounts, the board will approve party nominees for the upcoming AJK elections.

The PPP has constituted its parliamentary board nearly a month after its main rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), formed a 25-member high-profile board on April 16, including eight members from AJK.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), which has been struggling for formal registration with the AJK Election Commission, had earlier formed an 11-member parliamentary board comprising all AJK-based members on April 8.

Meanwhile, in a separate development on Thursday, Mr Rathore met PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in Islamabad and briefed him on the prevailing political situation in AJK as well as ongoing development projects initiated by his government.

During the meeting, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said that the PPP had appointed Mr Rathore as prime minister to deliver on its commitments to the people of AJK.

“The promises we made to the Kashmiri people are a trust, and we do not betray that trust,” he was quoted as saying on PPP’s social media platforms.

Mr Bhutto-Zardari directed that electoral promises be fulfilled without delay and that preparations for the next general elections be expedited.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2026