ISLAMABAD: The Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) on Monday elected Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Barrister Khalid Khurshid as the new chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Barrister Khurshid secured 22 votes, while his opponent - Amjad Hussain (advocate) - the candidate of joint opposition faced a defeat as he managed to bag only nine votes.

The swearing-in ceremony of Barrister Khurshid as the new chief minister GB will take place on December 2, in which Prime Minister Imran Khan will also participate. Governor of Gilgit-Baltistan, Raja Jalal Hussain Maqpoon, will administer the oath to him.

After swearing in, the chief minister will announce his new cabinet. Earlier in his first interaction after being nominated for the post, he reiterated that uplifting of deprived and less-developed areas, merit-based institutional reforms, providing basic education and healthcare facilities, maintaining peace and harmony, resolving issues of electricity and gas, promoting tourism industry, ensuring good governance, and adopting mitigation policies for climate change, will be his top priorities.

He said he would follow in the footsteps of his leader and incumbent Prime Minister Imran Khan, and serve his people with full dedication and without any discrimination.

Barrister Khurshid was born on November 17, 1980, in Rattu area of Shounter Tehsil in Astore district. He did matriculation from Public School and College, Gilgit, and graduated from Faisalabad. He received degree in law from the Queen Mary University of London, England. As far his political career is concerned, he lost his first election for GBLA twice as an independent candidate in 2009, and 2015, respectively.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

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