MUZAFFARABAD: Dr Najeeb Naqi of the ruling PML-N was sworn in as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) president on Thurs­day, hours after being elected by a clear majority.

AJK Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram administered the oath of office at a ceremony held at the President’s House.

Dr Naqi is the 11th president since the introduction of the parliamentary form of government in 1975. Before that, AJK had a presidential system. Exclu­ding those who held the office in an interim capacity, he is the 23rd president of the region overall.

Earlier in the day, Dr Naqi secured 32 votes against 13 for PPP candidate Chaudhry Latif Akbar in the election held at the Legislative Assembly Secretariat.

Years after his ‘accidental’ foray into politics, the Poonch native emerged as consensus candidate after speaker, PM slots went to Mirpur, Muzaffarabad men

As elections in seven constituencies of Poonch have yet to be held, the assembly’s current strength is 46.

PPP lawmaker Chaudhry Qasim Majeed did not turn up for voting, reportedly because he was out of the country.

As presiding officer Ayaz Bashir announced the result inside the Assembly Hall, a large gathering outside erupted in celebration while watching the proceedings live on a large screen.

Dr Naqi, who was in the Speaker’s Chamber, came out to thank the gathering and was showered with flower petals amid enthusiastic slogans.

In his brief address, he said Poonch was passing through a difficult period and expressed hope that the region would overcome its problems and return to the path of development.

“I will do my best to ensure that the new [AJK] government lives up to the expectations of its people,” he said.

Back in the Assembly, PM Gillani, Leader of the Oppos­ition Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin and former premier Raja Farooq Haider took the floor to congratulate Dr Naqi.

Describing Dr Naqi as a “nob­le person”, Mr Gillani said his election had brought a “breeze of fresh air” to the division. “…No one knows the Kashmir issue and matters concerning Azad Kashmir better than Dr Najeeb Naqi,” he said.

Mr Gillani regretted that elections had not been held in seven constituencies of Poonch and Sudhnoti, saying the Assembly would remain incomplete until those seats were filled.

He said efforts were under way to complete the electoral process at the earliest.

Separately, PM Shehbaz Sharif also congratulated Dr Naqi on his election, which, he said, reflected the confidence of the people of AJK.

He expressed the hope that Dr Naqi would discharge his responsibilities effectively and contribute to the development, prosperity and welfare of the people of AJK. He also reaffirmed that Islamabad would extend its full cooperation to AJK.

Accidental entrant

For Dr Naqi, politics was never part of the plan. Born on Jan 19, 1964, he hails from a prominent political, social and educational family of Poonch whose public-service tradition stretches back several generations.

At the heart of that legacy stands his grandfather, Col Khan Muhammad Khan, popularly remembered as Khan Sahib and Baba-e-Poonch.

An old Aitchisonian and graduate of Lahore’s prestigious King Edward Medical College, Dr Naqi had set his sights on medicine and was doing his house job at Mayo Hospital when fate intervened in the most unexpected way.

A day before the 1990 general elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), his father, retired Colonel Muhammad Naqi Khan, then minister for health, died in a tragic road accident while campaigning.

The family elders soon decided that his only son should carry forward the political legacy. At 26, and with little political experience, Dr Naqi was persuaded to take the plunge.

He contested the 1990 election on a Muslim Conference ticket but lost. The setback, however, proved only a temporary detour. The assembly was dissolved within a year, paving the way for fresh elections, in which the young doctor returned to the fray — and this time emerged victorious.

That was the beginning of a parliamentary career that would span more than three decades. He won again in 1996, but with the PPP forming the government, he spent the next five years on the opposition benches.

He lost the 2001 election but was subsequently elected by assembly members to the AJK Council, where he served until 2006.

Dr Naqi returned to the assembly in 2006 for a third term and served as minister for health and population welfare. He later held the portfolios of education and information technology. He was elected for a fourth term in 2011 on a PML-N ticket and remained on the opposition benches until 2016.

The 2016 election saw him come back for a fifth term. He subsequently served as minister for health and also held the finance and planning and development portfolios. Over the years, he thus occupied a range of responsibilities spanning health, education, information technology, finance and development.

After losing the 2021 election, Dr Naqi was set to stage a comeback in the 2026 polls. However, elections in seven constituencies of Poonch division, including his own, were put on hold because of the law and order situation. But luck had something else in store.

As the government formation process was completed on the basis of 46 seats — excluding the seven constituencies of Poonch and Sudhnoti — the top two constitutional offices also went to representatives from other divisions, with the speaker coming from Mirpur and the prime minister from Muzaffarabad.

This led to growing calls for the presidency to go to a representative of Poonch division. Dr Naqi, with his long parliamentary experience and roots in the region, soon emerged as the name around which those calls coalesced.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2026