After sacking of three PTI ministers: Aspirants start lobbying for berths in KP cabinet

PESHAWAR: Soon after the sacking of provincial ministers Mohammad Atif Khan, Shahram Khan Tarakai and Shakil Ahmad, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers from Mardan, Swabi, Malakand and even other districts started making efforts to be inducted in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet in their place. A PTI MPA from Mardan said a vacancy has been created in the cabinet from the district after the removal of Atif Khan, the senior minister for tourism, culture, archaeology and sports. He noted that there was no chance for any other MPA from Mardan as long as Atif Khan was the minister. “Now a vacancy is there and I and some other MPAs are aspirants to fill it,” he remarked while talking to The News.

There were reports that two PTI MPAs, Iftikhar Mashwani and Abdul Salam Afridi, who were opposed to Atif Khan, had celebrated his removal. They would now be hoping that Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and Prime Minister Imran Khan would reward them for opposing a powerful party figure and minister Atif Khan who in their view eventually betrayed the PTI leadership.

Other PTI MPAs from Mardan are Tufail Anjum, Malik Shaukat, Zahir Shah Toru and Amir Farzand. A few of them were close to Atif Khan and, therefore, their chances of making it to the cabinet would be slim. The eighth MPA from Mardan is Jamshed Mohmand, who belongs to the PML-N.

In Swabi, the removal of Health Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai apparently shocked the Tarakai family, which has been dominating the politics in the district for the last many years. Apart from Shahram Tarakai who is an MPA, the family has one Senator, Liaqat Tarakai who is Shahram’s father, his uncle Usman Tarakai, the MNA from Swabi, and his cousin Mohammad Ali Tarakai, an MPA. Shahram Tarakai’s sacking has created a vacancy in the cabinet from Swabi as well. The National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser’s younger brother Aqibullah, who is an MPA, and the other PTI MPAs, Rangez Ahmad and Abdul Karim, would be desirous of being minister. Abdul Karim is already an advisor to the chief minister on industries, but he too would be keen to become a full minister.

Shakil Ahmad, the third minister to be de-notified on the directive of Prime Minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan, belongs to the Malakand district. He has been firmly in the anti-Pervez Khattak camp for the last few years and this seems to be the reason he drifted to the Atif Khan-Shahram Tarakai group.

With Shakil Ahmad’s sacking, the other PTI MPA from Malakand district, Musavir Khan, would be aspiring to become a minister. He is a first-timer in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, though he won a difficult seat defeating PPP’s Syed Mohammad Ali Shah, who won this Dargai tehsil seat several times. The chief minister could select lawmakers from other districts also in case a decision is taken to replace the three sacked ministers.

It was being speculated that Atif Khan, Shahram Tarakai and Shakil Ahmad may be pardoned and taken back in the cabinet at a later stage, but that possibility has now receded as they came out openly against the party decision to expel them on Monday while giving an interview to a private TV channel.