Caretaker KP cabinet members allotted portfolios

PESHAWAR: Caretaker Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan on Wednesday allotted portfolios to the newly-appointed cabinet members. “In exercise of the powers conferred under Sub-Rule (4) of Rule 3 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Rules of Business, 1985, the caretaker chief minister, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is pleased to assign the portfolios to the caretaker ministers as noted against each with immediate effect,” the administration department said in a notification. Former caretaker minister and a close relative of the chief minister, Syed Masud Shah, was again allotted Establishment & Administration, Inter Provincial Coordination, ex-caretaker minister Barrister Feroze Jamal Shah Kakakhel was given Information & Public Relations, Culture, Tourism, Archeology and Museums, former caretaker minister Justice (retd) Irshad Qaiser got Prisons, Relief, Rehabilitation & Settlement, Zakat, Ushr, Social Welfare, Special Education and Women Empowerment, Ahmad Rasool Bangash will look after Finance, Revenue, Excise, Taxation & Narcotics, Asif Rafiq will serve as Minister of Climate Change, Forestry, Environment and Wildlife, Livestock, Fisheries & Cooperative, Agriculture and Food. Dr. Najeebullah was given Science, Technology and Information Technology, Sports & Youth Affairs, former vice chancellor Dr. Muhammad Qasim Jan got Elementary & Secondary Education, Higher Education, Archives & Libraries, Justice Arshad Hussain Shah was made Minister of Law, Parliamentary Affairs & Human Rights, Auqaf, Haj, Religious & Minority Affairs, while Syed Aamir Abdullah will look after Tribal Affairs (Newly Merged Districts). Adviser to the Chief Minister Dr Riaz Anwar, again got Health, Population Welfare and Labour, Syed Sarfaraz Ali Shah received Communication and Works, Planning and Development, and Pubic Health Engineering, and former police officer, Zafarullah Khan, who belongs to Charsadda, the hometown of the chief minister, was allotted Irrigation and Housing. He was appointed as a special assistant to the chief minister. According to the notification, the caretaker chief minister will hold all the remaining portfolios with him.