GB poll results broke ‘Centre’s monopoly’, says CM-designate

Meanwhile, the first session of the newly-elected GB Assembly has been convened for Monday (today) at 9am, during which members-elect will take the oath of office and elect the leader of the house, the speaker and the deputy speaker. “This is a transformation and the Centre should respect it,” Hussain told Dawn, referring to a party other than the one ruling in Islamabad coming to power in GB. “This is the first time that the people of GB have voted for democratic political parties, while rejecting traditional and ethnic trends as well as religious and sub-nationalist parties,” he added. Hussain said for the first time, the party had advanced the concept of granting provisional provincial status to GB to counter the decision of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to revoke the special status of India-held Kashmir in 2019. He added that granting provisional provincial status to GB, along with representation in the National Assembly and Senate until a plebiscite was held in Kashmir, would strengthen Pakistan’s position on the dispute. In 2022, then ruling PTI sabotaged the 26th Amendment, which was also seeking the declaration of GB as a provisional province. A prominent lawyer and president of the PPP’s Gilgit-Baltistan chapter, Hussain was elected to the GB Assembly from GBA-1 in the recent elections. He previously served as a member of the GB Council from 2009 to 2014 and remained a member of the GB Assembly from 2020 to 2025. He also served as opposition leader in the assembly from 2020 to 2