PML-N leaders uneasy over Pervez Khattak’s cabinet induction

ISLAMABAD: Some Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders have raised concerns over the inclusion of Pervez Khattak, a former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader, in the federal cabinet.

ISLAMABAD: Some leaders from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders have raised concerns over the inclusion of Pervez Khattak, a former leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in the federal cabinet.

Speaking on Geo News' programme Naya Pakistan, PML-N leader Ikhtiar Wali said that certain party members were displeased with including Khatakk, who served as the defence minister and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister during PTI's separate tenures, into the cabinet.

He revealed that due to past political differences, some PML-N leaders had refrained from speaking to Khattak for the past 15 to 16 years.

Wali also claimed that within PML-N, there was a growing perception that those without a Punjab domicile often find themselves sidelined in the party.

Khattak was among more than politicians appointed to the federal cabinet last week. The former PTI leader has been made the adviser to the prime minister.

As a result, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif doubled the federal cabinet strength, taking the total strength from 25 to 50, with the appointment of 12 federal ministers, nine ministers of state, three advisers to the prime minister and four special assistants to the prime minister.

Khattak had stepped down from his position in the PTI in June 2023 in the wake of the May 9 riots and later formed his own party, PTI-Parliamentarians.

However, after a humiliating general election campaign in which he failed to win any of the seats he contested, the former defence minister stepped down from his party position.