ISLAMABAD: (Rizwan Abbasi) The pending issue of the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner in Azad Jammu and Kashmir for the past several months has finally been resolved.
According to sources, the appointment of the Chairman Election Commission in Azad Kashmir has been approved, under which former Chief Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal has been approved to be appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
According to sources, the summary regarding the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner has been signed by the Chairman Kashmir Council and Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif. After the approval of the summary, it has been sent to the office of the President of Azad Kashmir through the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs. Earlier, three names were sent to the Prime Minister of Pakistan for the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner.
This approval has come at a very important time, as only twelve days are left for the election of the President of the State of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, while about five and a half months are left for the upcoming general elections of Azad Kashmir. According to sources, this appointment will strengthen the transparency and constitutional continuity of the electoral process.
Justice (Retd) Ghulam Mustafa Mughal served the judiciary of Azad Jammu and Kashmir for a long time. He was appointed as a Judge of the Azad Kashmir High Court on 30 January 2002, and later became the Chief Justice of the High Court on 4 January 2010. On 18 February 2016, he was appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner of Azad Kashmir, where transparent and fair elections were held under his supervision.
Later, on 30 March 2017, Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and retired in late 2020 or early 2021 after completing his constitutional term. He is recognized as a respected judicial figure due to several important and historic decisions in the High Court and the Supreme Court.
He belongs to village Balgaran in Muzaffarabad, where he was born on 25 December 1955. He studied law at Islamia College, Muzaffarabad and Punjab University and began his career as a lawyer in the 1980s. His services for judicial reforms, public access to justice and promotion of judicial dignity are appreciated in judicial circles.
