REJECTED by voters in his own constituency, lawyer Iftikhar Gillani has been chosen as the new prime minister of Azad Jammu & Kashmir. A local PML-N leader, he was elected on a reserved seat for technocrats after losing in the recently held regional elections. His nomination caught even his own party by surprise. Gillani, who had also lost the last election, is not the electorate’s choice — so, whose nominee is he?

It is an unprecedented choice even in a place where governments are made and removed from outside. But why should it surprise anyone, given the state of democracy in this area? While voicing other demands, the legitimacy of elections, which were held in the midst of a popular uprising in parts of AJK, has been questioned — even by mainstream parties like the PPP. Gillani was not nominated for the post by the party’s local chapter; he was picked by the PML-N central leadership in Lahore. Yet, he could not have been elected to the top-most position in this highly sensitive and troubled region without the blessing of the powers that be.

Gillani’s election in defiance of democratic norms reinforces the contention that the reserved seats are tools for manipulating the system and installing a government of the choice of Pakistan-based political parties and the establishment. The PML-N has emerged as the single-largest political party in the controversial elections, helped by the eight seats for Kashmiri refugees in Punjab. Polling........

© Dawn