Afridi takes oath as KP CM

PESHAWAR: The opposition parties’ politicking and hobnobbing finally gave way on Wednesday with the oath-taking of Sohail Afridi as the new Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Governor Faisal Karim Kundi administered the oath to the new chief minister on the directives of the Peshawar High Court.

A large number of PTI workers and members of the Insaf Students Federation surrounded the chief minister and governor during the oath-taking ceremony. They were chanting slogans in favour of the party founder chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan and Sohail Afridi during the oath-taking ceremony at the Governor’s House.

Kundi had to rush back to the Governor’s House Tuesday night after the Sindh chief minister arranged his aircraft for his travel.

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari instructed the Sindh chief minister to provide his plane to Governor Kundi.

On Tuesday, the Peshawar High Court directed the governor to administer oath to the new CM by 4pm. The court directed that in case the governor was unable to do so by the time, the KP Assembly speaker should administer oath to Afridi.

The 36-year-old Afridi is the first chief minister elected from the tribal districts. He was elected MPA in the 2024 general polls for the first time from PK-70, Khyber.

Earlier, the Peshawar High Court dismissed a petition filed by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) challenging the election of chief minister.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Waqar Ahmad, heard the petition filed by JUIF leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman.

PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, counsel for the petitioner, and representatives of the federal and provincial governments appeared before the court.

Raja argued that there was no concept in the Constitution for “acceptance” of resignation from a constitutional office. “Once a person resigns, it takes effect immediately. Former chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur announced his resignation on the floor of the assembly, which was also recorded in the chief justice’s order. The governor was satisfied, and the new chief minister has since taken oath. Therefore, this petition has become time-barred,” he stated.

However, the petitioner’s counsel contended that under the Constitution, the chief minister’s office became vacant once the resignation was formally accepted.

He said Gandapur submitted his handwritten resignation to the governor on October 11 after announcing it on October 8. The governor, he added, had called Gandapur for confirmation of his resignation which, according to him, had not been accepted at the time the new chief minister was elected.

Justice Arshad Ali observed that once a chief minister resigned, the cabinet automatically ceased to exist and referred to the chief justice’s previous order stating that the office had fallen vacant.

“After that order, how can we now halt the process?” he asked the petitioner’s counsel, who maintained that the administrative order was itself questionable and should have been challenged.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the court reserved its verdict and later dismissed the petition, declaring Sohail Afridi as the lawful chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.