11 ministers of K-P cabinet take oath

Oath administered by acting governor of province

PESHAWAR: The 11 ministers of the provincial cabinet of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were sworn in a ceremony held at the Governor House on Wednesday.

The Speaker K-P Assembly Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, who is also serving as the acting governor of the province, administered the oath of the cabinet members. Chief Minister K-P Mahmood Khan was also present in the ceremony along with supporters and relatives of the ministers who took the oath.



A Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf representative from Peshawar, Kamran Bangash, who was earlier assigned the ministry of information and technology did not take the oath. Sources said Bangash's portfolio has been changed from minister to special assistant to the chief minister, hence, he did not take the oath.

Media was not allowed to attend the oath taking ceremony.

According to an official notification issued by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday evening, 12 ministers, two advisers and one special assistant had been named in the cabinet.

Former education and energy minister Atif Khan — once tipped to head the government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) owing to his stellar performance in the last government — was handed the post of senior minister along with the coveted tourism portfolio.

Similarly, Shahram Khan Tarakai was appointed as the minister for local government. In exchange, he has had to give up his senior minister title and the portfolios of health and information technology.

There was a surprise with first-time provincial assembly member Taimoor Saleem Jhagra being handed the key portfolio of finance.



Elsewhere, Syed Ishtiaq Urmer was named forest minister, Haji Qalandar Lodhi the food minister, Shakeel Ahmed Khan the revenue minister, Mohibullah Khan the agriculture minister, Amjad Ali the mineral development minister, Ziaullah Khan Bangash an advisor to the chief minister, Sultan Muhammad Khan as law minister, Hisham Inamullah Khan as health minister, Kamran Bangash as information technology minister, Abdul Karim as advisor to the chief minister on industries and Shah Muhammad Wazir as the special assistant to the chief minister on transport.

Akhtar Ayub Khan was also included in the cabinet but has not been assigned a portfolio yet. Jhagra, Kamran, Akhtar, Shakeel, Mohibullah, Sultan, Hisam and Karim will be new faces in the current cabinet.