ISLAMABAD, Jun 21 : The Pakistan Peoples Party will form the government in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir's Gilgit-Baltistan with the support of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz under a power-sharing formula, mirroring the arrangement at the federal level, a media report said on Sunday.
India maintains that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, including Gilgit-Baltistan, are integral and inalienable parts of India by virtue of the "complete, legal and irrevocable accession" of Jammu and Kashmir to India in 1947.
India lodged a strong protest with Pakistan over the so-called elections in the region on June 7, maintaining that Gilgit-Baltistan is part of Indian territory that has been "illegally and forcibly" occupied by Pakistan.
Following the polls, the PPP emerged as the largest party, with 12 seats in the so-called 24-member Gilgit-Baltistan assembly.
The PPP and PML-N decided to form a coalition government in Gilgit-Baltistan based on "mutual trust, consensus and consultation," Dawn newspaper reported, citing a press release.
According to a statement, local PPP and PML-N leaders agreed on a proposed power-sharing formula following a consultation meeting, under which the so-called chief minister will be from the PPP, while the governor and the leader of the opposition will be from the PML-N.
Additionally, the post of deputy speaker will also go to the PML-N.
"The decision of the PML-N's central leadership to support the PPP in forming a government has been endorsed by the local leadership," PML-N regional chief Hafeez Hafeezur Rehman said. (PTI)
