Imdad Hussin Rajwa
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has emerged as the single largest party in the Gilgit-Baltistan General Election 2026, in a landslide victory, by any definition of the majority that ought to have been sufficient to establish the government in its entirety. But it was not, thanks to technical and structural problems, majoritarian rule could not prevail in the region. However, the party’s chairman and provincial president have steered the boat out of the whirlpool and managed to form a government. The journey was neither easy for the party nor for Adv. Amjad Hussain, whose path was not bereft of political hysteria.
The momentum that helped get PPP to this stage was not a coincidence. It was built, month by month, by one person: Advocate Amjad Hussain Azar, the provincial president of the party. He became acceptable to the masses because of his credibility, and his cross-party relationships and interactions with the public paved the way for PPP’s revival in the region. To say that his performance as Leader of the Opposition during the tenure of Khalid Khurshid and Chief Whip during the tenure of Gulbar Khan was just outstanding is an understatement. He proved himself to be an excellent public servant, and everyone, including regular voters and political commentators, was impressed. There was a time, not long ago, when people across Gilgit-Baltistan openly hoped and prayed that he would one day become Chief Minister of GB. The region’s people were inspired by the respect he had earned, since they had suffered long enough at the hands of undeserving politicians. I think Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the chairman of PPP, had a merit-based instinct when he nominated him as the party’s candidate for Chief Minister. His acceptability and credibility enabled him to become the first unopposed Chief Minister in the history of GB.
Amjad Hussain picked up a party that was seriously in shambles and defeated. He reopened the doors for sidelined workers, reorganized the party from scratch, and cut loose the dead weight that had been holding it back. The most consequential decision and turning point was his emphasis on legislation rather than rhetoric, which later became the centerpiece of his politics. His insistence that elected bodies actually legislate, and educating the public on why that mattered, turned out to be significantly successful. He was the first political figure in the region to give real currency to the ideas of “Haq-e-Hakimiyat” and “Haq-e-Malkiyat”—the right to self-governance and the right to ownership of local resources—and he pursued their acceptance relentlessly until the public came around. That, more than anything, is what turned him into the most talked-about political figure across Gilgit-Baltistan.
Candidly speaking, such popularity was not something his critics could digest, both within and outside the party. All attempts to discredit him fell flat, and none of them earned credence with the public. His opponents, with mala fide intentions, tried to undermine his political standing, but their efforts proved futile. Rather, such attempts backfired, and his popularity continued to rise. He remained instrumental in the passage of the historic Land Reform Act 2025, the first piece of legislation of its kind in the region’s history, during Haji Gulbar Khan’s tenure. His role and efforts, by and large, went largely unheralded, even within his own party, instead of being shouted from the rooftops. This speaks volumes about the party’s information wing and reveals its shortcomings. There is an old truth worth repeating here: history remembers the brave, not the cowards. It takes real courage to stand up to injustice, and Amjad did that bravely, facing down bad-faith attacks until he was finally vindicated on 7 June 2026.
Now, with the will of God and the people’s mandate, he has assumed office as the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan. Advocate Amjad Hussain Azar now holds the reins of GB. If you want to know what kind of Chief Minister he will be, look no further than the record above. He has consistently chosen merit over incompetence and public interest over personal interest, staking his political reputation to defend the people he represents, and there is every reason to think he shall continue to do so. His critics may retreat into maligning campaigns or worse, but I doubt that will deter him. He seems to hold a strong conviction that he owes his position to the prayers and mandate of ordinary people, and that belief, more than anything, is what will keep him honest. He now leads nearly two million people who have long felt alienated from their basic rights, and there is hope in the air that he will prove to be the region’s much-anticipated advocate.
At the end of the day, the question many will pose is: Will he be able to deliver? I would say the answer is positive. Who is more likely to seize this moment than a man who turned around a sinking party, brought it back to life on his own merits, and won over a doubting public? He seems to realize that he is not only the elected member of GBA-1; he is the chief executive of an entire province, and he knows that he will need a team of competent and capable people to run an effective government across GB. The real test before him is whether he can materialize the dreams of hundreds of thousands of people. My hope and wish are that he will be remembered as the Chief Minister of the people’s hearts, not merely as one recorded in official history.
The contributor is a PhD scholar of International Relations.
