KP CM allots portfolios to cabinet members

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Thursday allotted portfolios to the cabinet members.

A PTI Member National Assembly from Lakki Marwat, Sher Afzal Marwat, who got prominence after a scuffle with a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader in a TV talk show, allegedly helped his brother Khalid Lateef to become an adviser to the chief minister. He was given the Ministry of Science and Technology and Information Technology. Khalid Lateef is not an elected representative.

Arshad Ayub Khan, the cousin of PTI secretary general Omar Ayub Khan, was assigned his favourite Local Government, Elections and Rural Development.

Shakeel Ahmad was given Communication & Works, Fazal Hakim Khan, backed by Murad Saeed, got Climate Change, Forestry, Environment and Wildlife and Muhammad Adnan Qadri, nephew of former federal religious affairs minister Noorul Haq Qadri, received Auqaf, Haj & Religious Affairs.

Aqibullah Khan, younger brother of former speaker National Assembly, Asad Qaiser Khan, was allotted Irrigation, Muhammad Sajjad got Agriculture, Meena Khan Higher Education, Archives and Libraries, Fazal Shakoor Labour, Nazir Ahmad Abbasi Revenue & Estate, Pakhtoon Yar Khan Public Health Engineering, Aftab Alam Khan Afridi from Kohat received Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights, Khaleequr Rahman from Nowshera was given Excise, Taxation & Narcotics Control. He had defeated former chief minister Pervez Khattak.

Syed Qasim Ali Shah from Peshawar was assigned Health, Faisal Khan Tarakai, younger brother of former minister Shahram Khan Tarakai, was given Elementary & Secondary Education and Muhammad Zahir Shah got the Food Department.

Among the advisers, Syed Fakhar Jehan got Sports & Youth Affairs, Muzzamil Aslam Finance, Muhammad Ali Saif Information & Public Relations, Mashal Azam Zakat, Ushr, Social Welfare and Women Empowerment, Zahid Chanzeb Culture, Tourism, Archeology and Museums.

Of the Special Assistants, Khalid Latif Khan was given Science and Technology and Information Technology, Abdul Karim Khan Industries, Commerce and Technical Education, Liaqat Ali Khan from Dir got Population Welfare and Dr Amjad Ali from Swat Housing.

Meanwhile, some senior party leaders alleged nepotism and favouritism in the selection of the provincial cabinet and allotment of portfolios.

“We gave 27 years of our lives to PTI. We never realised that one day this party would fall into the hands of such characters. It seems senior party leaders were first denied the party tickets for the provincial assembly and later when some of them managed to reach the KP Assembly, they were not given space in the cabinet,” one senior party parliamentarian told The News on condition of anonymity.

Some party members were astonished and angered by the decision of PTI leadership to ignore the former speaker provincial assembly, Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, in the cabinet.

The party leaders said Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur had told them that the party founder Imran Khan had selected the cabinet members.

“I don’t understand how Imran Khan can ignore the under-developed southern and particularly the militancy-torn tribal districts in the cabinet. There are some very good and qualified young people elected from the tribal districts and it was widely believed that they would be given opportunities to contribute to the development of their respective areas by becoming part of the cabinet,” a PTI parliamentarian from southern districts opined.

The decision on the cabinet prompted the former governor and Imran Khan’s long-time friend, Shah Farman, to react. He took to X (formerly Twitter) and said only the PTI workers would be given party tickets in the Senate elections.