Manzoor Afridi to be KP caretaker CM

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak and Leader of the Opposition in the KP Assembly Maulana Lutfur Rehman have agreed in principle to pick a little known businessman Manzoor Afridi as caretaker chief minister of the province.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership has confirmed that Manzoor Afridi’s name has already been shared with Imran Khan and Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

After approval by the respective party leadership of the two parties, an official announcement about the caretaker chief minister is expected in the next 24 hours.

Manzoor Afridi, a 43-year-old businessman who is said to have little interest in politics, would be the first tribesman from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) to hold position of the chief minister in the province.

Opposition leader in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Maulana Lutfur Rehman, who belongs to Jamiat Ulma-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and is younger brother of Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak reached consensus on the name of Manzoor Afridi after a few rounds of meetings.

If formally appointed as caretaker chief minister, Manzoor Afridi will take oath of office on May 29 as tenure of the present government would end on May 28.

It would be the second time that leader of the House and leader of the opposition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly came to a common conclusion regarding the nomination of the caretaker chief minister. The then chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti and opposition leader Akram Khan Durrani, had agreed in 2013 to nominate Justice (R) Tariq Pervez, a former chief justice of Peshawar High Court, as caretaker chief minister of the province.

Many other names were being mentioned in the media in recent weeks for the caretaker chief minister, but one name missing in every list was that of Manzoor Afridi.

The names often mentioned included former inspector general of police Abbas Khan, former chief justice of Pakistan Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice (R) Dost Muhammad, ex-chief secretaries Abdullah, Shakil Afridi and Ejaz Qureshi, and retired senior bureaucrat Sahibzada Muhammad Saeed.

However, the addition of Manzoor Afridi’s name among the probable and that too all of a sudden on Friday came as a surprise to everyone.

Pervaiz Khattak and Maulana Lutfur Rehman agreed on his name during a one-on-one meeting on Friday night. The disclosure of his name was made on Saturday.

The News has learnt on good authority that his name was first proposed by JUI-F as, according to the sources, he has an inclination towards the religio-political party.

Manzoor Afridi is son of a businessman Haji Muhammad Nawab Afridi. He belongs to the Afridi sub-tribe, Sepah, belonging to Bara in Khyber Agency.

His paternal uncle Muhammad Shah Afridi remained member of the National Assembly and the Senate in the past. Manzoor Afridi’s brother Ayub Afridi was elected as Senator from KP on the PTI ticket in the March 3 elections.

His cousin Mirza Khan Afridi was also elected member of the Senate from Fata as an independent candidate, but he later joined the Pakistan Muslim-Nawaz (PML-N).

Manzoor Afridi is also the first cousin of Javed Afridi, owner of the Peshawar Zalmi, former champions of Pakistan Super League (PSL).

Father of one daughter and three sons, Manzoor Afridi was born in Spin Qabar in Bara tehsil where he also attained primary education. He later moved to Singapore to graduate in business studies. Besides owning trade-industrial units in United Arab Emirates, Germany and other countries, his family also owns an international brand of electronics.

Senator Muhammad Ayub Afridi told the media that he was affiliated to the PTI, but his brother Manzoor Afridi had no political affiliation.

However, he confirmed that Manzoor Afridi had close terms with JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Maulana Lutfur Rehman.