Azad Jammu and Kashmir currently has an acting head of state, Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, while Barrister Iftikhar Gilani serves as the region’s prime minister. The presidency has changed hands twice since January, and a fresh election to fill the post permanently is set for September 24, 2026.

Background: How the Presidency Became Vacant

The seat opened up after President Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry died in Islamabad on January 31, 2026, following a long battle with liver cancer. He was 71. Chaudhry had been elected AJK president in August 2021 after a long political career that also included a stint as prime minister back in the 1990s.

His death triggered an unusual few months for AJK’s top office. Chaudhry Latif Akbar, then Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, stepped in as acting president the same day, a role he’d briefly filled once before in late 2025 when illness kept Chaudhry from attending a cabinet oath-taking. Akbar held the acting post from January 31 until late August 2026.

What Changed in August

Two things shifted the picture around the same time. First, AJK went through general elections in 2026, and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) emerged as the largest party in the assembly, unseating the Pakistan Peoples Party’s hold on government. Second, the new assembly elected its own Speaker, Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, who took over as acting president on August 25 once Akbar’s assembly term wound down.

On the government side, PML-N’s Barrister Iftikhar Gilani was sworn in as the 17th prime minister of Azad Kashmir on August 28, after winning an assembly vote 30 to 14 against PPP’s Sardar Mukhtar Ahmed Abbasi. Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin of the PPP now holds the post of Leader of the Opposition.

Details: The Race to Fill the Presidency Permanently

With PML-N now controlling the assembly, the party moved to nominate its own candidate for the presidency rather than leave the office in acting hands indefinitely. On September 16, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif directed Dr Muhammad Najeeb Naqi Khan, a five-time AJK lawmaker from Sudhanoti district, to file his nomination papers.

Dr Najeeb Naqi has held several ministerial portfolios over the years, including health, finance, education, and planning and development, and previously served as AJK’s health and finance minister between 2016 and 2021. He’s also chaired the assembly’s Standing Committee on Health and served as PML-N AJK’s vice-president.

The AJK Election Commission has laid out a tight timeline. Nomination papers were due between 10am and noon on September 19, with scrutiny happening the same day. Candidates have until 11:30am on September 23 to withdraw. Polling takes place at the Legislative Assembly Secretariat in Muzaffarabad from 10am to 1pm on September 24, with counting to follow immediately. Under AJK’s constitution, a candidate needs a simple majority of 27 votes from the assembly to win.

Quotes

Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb confirmed the PML-N nomination on behalf of the party leadership. “PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif nominated Dr Naqi for the AJK president slot,” she said, congratulating him and wishing him well ahead of the vote.

Following Chaudhry’s death in January, condolence messages came from across the political spectrum. Kashmiri rights advocate Muhammad Farooq Rehmani described the loss as one that left “a significant void in the region’s political landscape,” pointing to Chaudhry’s decades of campaigning on the Kashmir issue at forums like the United Nations.

Impact: Why the Presidency Matters Beyond Ceremony

AJK’s president is largely a constitutional figurehead, with the prime minister running day-to-day government, but the office still carries real weight. It’s the president who formally administers oaths to the prime minister and cabinet, and the post has often gone to senior party figures who bring credibility to Pakistan’s broader case on the Kashmir dispute internationally, a role Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry himself was known for.

A prolonged vacancy or a string of acting presidents also raises questions about institutional continuity, particularly given how closely AJK’s government structure is tied to shifts in Islamabad’s ruling coalition. Filling the seat through a proper assembly vote, rather than leaving it to whoever happens to hold the Speaker’s chair, matters for exactly that reason.

Conclusion: What Happens Next

Barring a late withdrawal or surprise challenger, Dr Najeeb Naqi Khan enters the September 24 vote as the clear favourite given PML-N’s assembly majority. If elected, he’d become AJK’s next full-term president, ending the acting arrangement that’s been in place, in one form or another, since January. The result will be known within hours of polling closing on the 24th, and it will complete the reshuffle of AJK’s top constitutional offices that began with Chaudhry’s death earlier this year.

FAQs

Who is the current acting president of Azad Jammu & Kashmir?

Chaudhry Tariq Farooq has been serving as acting president since August 25, 2026. He holds the role by virtue of being Speaker of the AJK Legislative Assembly, since the constitution gives the Speaker that responsibility whenever the presidency is vacant or the sitting president is unavailable. He took over from Chaudhry Latif Akbar, who filled the same acting role for nearly seven months after President Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry’s death in January 2026. Farooq’s tenure as acting president is expected to end once the assembly elects a full-term president on September 24.

Who is the new PM of Azad Kashmir?

Barrister Iftikhar Gilani took oath as the 17th prime minister of Azad Kashmir on August 28, 2026, after his party, PML-N, won a comfortable majority in that year’s general election. He secured the assembly’s confidence with 30 votes against the PPP candidate’s 14, and he now heads the government responsible for day-to-day administration in the region, while the presidency remains a separate, more ceremonial constitutional post.

Whose government is in Azad Kashmir?

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz currently runs the AJK government after winning the largest bloc of seats in the 2026 general election, a shift from the previous PPP-led setup. PML-N holds both the prime minister’s office, through Barrister Iftikhar Gilani, and is fielding the leading candidate, Dr Najeeb Naqi Khan, for the presidency in the upcoming September 24 election. If Dr Najeeb Naqi wins as expected, PML-N would control both of AJK’s top constitutional offices at once.