Raja Jalal appointed as new GB governor

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has appointed Raja Jalal Hussain Maqpoon as new governor of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Maqpoon is the president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for the region. He was defeated by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Akbar Khan Taban in the GB Assembly election from Skardu constituency in 2015.

According to notification issued by Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, the president has accepted the resignation of Governor GB Mir Ghazanfar Ali Khan.

Maqpoon has been appointed as the new Governor GB under Article 33(1) of the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan Order 2018. He will the sixth governor of GB and will administered oath during the week.

Maqpoon thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan for trusting him for this key post. He also thanked party workers and all his well wishers. He vowed to act like a bridge between federation and the province and try his best to bring positive change in the region .

The incumbent governor Mir Ghazanfar Ali Khan resigned from his post on September 15, and tendered his resignation to President Arif Alvi after the new government was established.

The PML-N leader was elected a member of the GB Assembly from Hunza constituency in June 8, 2015 election. He was appointed GB governor in November 2015 by former president Mamnoon Hussain, and had vacated his seat which was later won by his son in a by-election.

Ghazanfar has also served as the GB’s chief executive from 2004 to 2009 during the regime of former president Pervez Musharraf.

He contested elections several times from his hometown of Karimabad in Hunza and was returned five times as a member of the GB Assembly. The current term of the GB Assembly will end in 2020.