Nawaz Sharif Nominates Barrister Iftikhar Gilani for AJK Premier, Dropping Shah Ghulam Qadir Amid PML-N Rift

PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif on August 27, 2026 nominated Barrister Syed Iftikhar Ali Gilani — elected to the AJK Legislative Assembly on a technocrat reserved seat after losing his directly contested Muzaffarabad City constituency to PPP's Sardar Mukhtar Khan (19,792 to 16,413 votes) — as the party's candidate for prime minister of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, directing him to file nomination papers. The decision, confirmed by PML-N leader Marriyum Aurangzeb as bearing Sharif's 'blessing,' replaces the party's earlier nominee, AJK PML-N President Shah Ghulam Qadir, and follows consultations at PM Shehbaz Sharif's Islamabad residence attended by Qadir, former AJK PM Raja Farooq Haider, and Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Tariq Farooq. Both Qadir and Farooq Haider objected to Gilani's nomination at the meeting and refused to endorse him; Qadir said afterward he would 'neither vote for Gilani nor attend Friday's session,' posting on X that there would be 'no compromise on the people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir's respect, opinion or dignity' and invoking Sharif's own 'Vote Ko Izzat Do' (respect the vote) slogan to argue the party should honor the electoral mandate. PML-N holds 32 of 53 assembly seats with allied JUI and Awam Dast-e-Bazu support, against PPP's 14, comfortably enough to elect Gilani despite the internal revolt.