PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Sultan Mohammad Khan Sunday said that he was optimistic that the opposition parties in the provincial assembly would take back the decision about resignation from the standing committees of the House.
“I believe the House is incomplete without participation of the opposition members in the proceedings of the assembly,” he said while talking to The News.
He maintained that the opposition benches were as important as the treasury benches as both were elected by the people.
“Our government wants to take into confidence the opposition parties about the legislation, development work and other affairs in the assembly,” the minister said while referring to the resignation of opposition parties from the standing committees.
The resignations are yet to be accepted by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly speaker.
Born into an influential family in Rajjar in Charsadda, Sultan Mohammad Khan, 40, has gained the respect of the treasury and the opposition benches in the House for his politeness, punctuality and positive response to issues raised in the assembly.
He is sometimes called as deputy chief minister by the lawmakers for speaking on behalf of the chief minister on the matters related to departments being led by him.
He said that he got complete details during the assembly session for any matter raised by a member through call-attention notice, adjournment motions or assembly questions.
“Being a minister for Parliamentary Affairs, every member is important to me. I try my best to answer their queries and concerns on the floor of the assembly,” he said, adding he studied the relevant documents and met the officials concerned before and during the assembly session.
Sultan Mohammad was elected to the provincial assembly for second consecutive terms.
In the 2013 general election, he was elected on the ticket of the Qaumi Watan Party. In the 2018 general election, he returned to the provincial assembly from PK-58 Charsadda on the ticket of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He had defeated Awami National Party (ANP)’s provincial president Aimal Wali Khan.
He has all the qualities of a good politician and a lawmaker. Before entering politics he completed his education and practiced law.
“Getting a degree in law was my dream. After graduating from the Khyber Law College Peshawar I got LLM degree from London King’s College in 2005,” he said.
“My parents wanted me to become a doctor. I had got admission in a medical college after FSc but I later convinced them that I wanted to be a lawyer,” Sultan Khan recalled.
Being Minister for Law, Sultan Khan believes that legislation and making new laws are basic responsibility of the lawmakers but once a law is made its implementation is most important on the part of government.
“The previous PTI-led government had undertaken record legislation and these should be implemented implement in letter and spirit,” he said, adding that the government was committed to implementing all laws passed by the provincial assembly. Sultan Khan unsuccessfully contested the 2008 general election as an independent candidate. His paternal grandfather was chief of his tribe in Rajjar. He had been once elected unopposed as district council chairman. His father Asif Jan Khan had served as ANP tehsil chapter president but never contested elections. His maternal grandfather Abdul Khaliq Khan was twice elected as Member National Assembly. He also remained as member of the Senate while his another close relative Roidad Khan is a well-known senior bureaucrat of Pakistan.
