Consensus reached on Azam Khan as caretaker KP CM

PESHAWAR/LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: As the matter of Punjab caretaker chief minister has reached the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government and the opposition have reached an agreement on a name for the interim chief minister in the province.

The name of former KP chief secretary Azam Khan was unanimously agreed upon in the meeting, held to finalise the appointment of the province’s caretaker CM. Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and opposition leader in the provincial assembly and former chief minister Akram Khan Durrani held their long-awaited meeting at the house of Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani where they had brought different names of their proposed candidates for the acting chief minister.

Former chief minister Pervez Khattak was also present.

Akram Durrani had earlier refused to meet Mahmood Khan at the chief minister’s house, complaining that he had pushed them to the wall in the past four years. Other leaders of the two political parties then intervened and facilitated their meeting at the speaker’s house.

“After consultation with our leader, we agreed to nominate Azam Khan as joint candidate of PTI and JUI-F for the caretaker chief minister,” chief minister Mahmood Khan told The News after a meeting with the opposition leader Akram Durrani.

The PTI had proposed Sahibzada Saeed and Awais Yahya for the caretaker chief minister’s position. But when PTI heard about Azam Khan’s name, though he was proposed by the JUI-F, the chief minister said Imran Khan did not oppose him.

“Imran Khan knew Azam Khan and was aware of his character and reputation, that’s why he immediately agreed to nominate him for the caretaker chief minister position,” Mahmood Khan said.

He said Pervez Khattak was also sitting with him in the meeting and he also acknowledged Azam Khan’s reputation.

Opposition leader Akram Durrani also said that it was the first time the ruling and opposition parties unanimously agreed on one name for the acting chief minister. “Azam Khan is our consensus candidate for the post of caretaker chief minister. We have chosen a person who is acceptable to all,” said Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan Fazl leader Akram Khan Durrani.

Commenting on the development, KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan said the name of the caretaker chief minister was unanimously agreed upon for the first time in history.

The nominee has held the office of federal secretary for the ministries of religious affairs and petroleum. He had obtained his Bar at Law degree from the Lincoln’s Inn, London.

Separately, Awami National Party (ANP) Provincial President Aimal Wali Khan said on Friday his party had recommended the name of former director general of Federal Investigation Agency Zafarullah Khan as the KP caretaker chief minister.

While the KP Assembly’s dissolution took place much later than the Punjab Assembly, the unanimous decision to name the caretaker chief minister was done rapidly in the province.

In Punjab, meanwhile, the government and the opposition remain at loggerheads over finalising the name of interim chief minister.

The committee to appoint the caretaker CM in Punjab met on Friday, but the meeting ended with no results and leaders from both sides criticised each other in their pressers.

The matter will now be taken up by the ECP, which will decide who will be appointed to the post within two days.

However, outgoing Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi has already declared that if the decision-making power is left to the ECP, he will take the matter to the Supreme Court.

The parliamentary committee, set up for appointment of caretaker chief minister Punjab, has failed to reach a consensus. A member of the committee from PMLN Malik Ahmad Khan told the media after the meeting in Lahore that a consensus could not be reached on any name.

A committee member from the PPP, Hassan Murtaza, regretted that the committee had failed to develop a consensus on the matter. The members of committee included Main Aslam Iqbal, Basharat Raja, Makdhoom Hashim Jawan Bakht, Malik Ahmad Khan, Syed Hassan Murtaza and Malik Nadeem Kamran. The committee discussed the nominees’ names, forwarded by Punjab CM Pervaiz Elahi and former leader of the opposition in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz.

Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera and Naveed Akram Cheema were the nominees from the Punjab CM, while Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi and Ahad Khan Cheema were nominated by the former opposition leader. On the other hand, the ECP denotified another 35 Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) on Friday after the speaker accepted their resignations. The ECP notification said that the MNAs had been denotified with effect from April 11, 2022. Earlier, the National Assembly secretariat also issued a notification, which says, “In accordance with Clause (1) of Article 64 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, read with Rule 43 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly of Pakistan 2007, the Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan has been pleased to accept the resignations of 35 Members of the National Assembly with effect from April 11, 2022, the date when the respective resignations were submitted.”

The MNAs who were denotified include: Dr Haider Ali Khan (NA-2), Saleem Rehman (NA-3), Sahibzada Sibghatullah (NA-5), Mehboob Shah (NA-6), Muhammad Bashir Khan (NA-7), Junaid Akbar (NA-8), Sher Akbar Khan (NA-9), Ali Khan Jadoon (NA-16), Engr Usman Khan Tarakai (NA-19), Mujahid Ali (NA-20), Arbab Amir Ayub (NA-28), Sher Ali Arbab (NA-30), Shahid Ahmed (NA-34), Gul Dad Khan (NA-40), Sajid Khan (NA-42), Mohammad Iqbal Khan (NA-44), Aamer Mehmood Kiani (NA-61), Syed Faizul Hassan (NA-70), Shoukat Ali Bhaba (NA-87), Umar Aslam Khan (NA-93), Amjad Ali Khan (NA-96), Khurram Shahzad (NA-107), Faizullah (NA-109), Malik Karamat Ali Khokhar (NA-135), Syed Fakhar Imam (NA-150), Zahoor Hussain Qureshi (NA-152), Ibraheem Khan (NA-158), Tahir Iqbal (NA-164), Aurangzeb Khan Khichi (NA-165), Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar (NA-177), Abdul Majeed Khan (NA-187).

Reserved women seats: Andaleeb Abbas, Asma Qadeer, Maleeka Ali Bokhari, and Munawara Bibi Baloch.

The ECP, only three days back, denotified 35 MNAs after acceptance of their resignations by the speaker. Prominent among them were former speaker Asad Qaisar, Hammad Azhar, Murad Saeed, Asad Umar, Ali Nawaz Awan, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad of Awami Muslim League and others, all PTI MNAs from Karachi and others.