ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Sunday announced Advocate Amjad Hussain as the party’s candidate for the office of chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).
The announcement follows the PPP’s decision to form the next government in GB with the support of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), after emerging as the largest party in the recent Gilgit-Baltistan elections.
Under a proposed power-sharing arrangement agreed between local PPP and PML-N leaders, the chief minister’s office will be held by the PPP, while the governorship and the position of leader of the opposition will go to the PML-N.
In a statement posted on X, the PPP said that Bilawal had nominated the party’s GB president, Advocate Amjad Hussain, for the chief minister’s post.
The statement added that Bilawal held a telephone conversation with Hussain and issued instructions regarding the formation of the new government and efforts to advance the constitutional and economic rights of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Advocate Amjad Hussain, who has served as president of the PPP Gilgit-Baltistan chapter since 2016, was elected from constituency GBA-I in the recent elections.
He served as a member of the GB Assembly from 2020 to 2025 and was also a member of the Gilgit-Baltistan Council between 2009 and 2014.
In 2020 GB elections, he contested from two constituencies – GBA-I Gilgit and GBA-IV Nagar – and won both seats. He later vacated the Nagar seat. At the time, the PPP was in opposition at the federal level.
He also served as the opposition leader in the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly from 2020 to 2023 during the government led by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) under former chief minister Khalid Khurshid.
He is credited with introducing the Gilgit-Baltistan Land Reforms Act, passed by the assembly in 2025, which aimed to strengthen local ownership rights over land.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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