K-P cabinet gets two new ministers amid reshuffle

Eight special assistants, an adviser inducted into the cabinet

PESHAWAR: The provincial government on Saturday reshuffled and expanded the provincial cabinet, inducting two more ministers along with eight special assistants and an adviser. Lawmakers from the newly-merged tribal districts were also inducted into the provincial cabinet.

Despite the expansion, it seems the cabinet still did not have room for including a woman lawmaker.

According to a notification issued by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government on Saturday, the inclusion of the new ministers means that their ranks have swelled to 14, while the number of advisers has increased to four and the number of special assistants has reached 10.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker from North Waziristan Tribal District Iqbal Wazir has been inducted as a minister.

The other lawmaker inducted as a minister was PTI lawmaker from Bannu Shah Muhammad.

Wazir has been given the Relief, Rehabilitation and Settlement ministry while Muhammad has been tasked with the Transport Ministry.

Among the adviser to the chief minister inducted into the cabinet is Khaliqur Rehman. He has been handed the Higher Education department.

Amongst the eight special assistants to the chief minister (SACM) appointed is PTI MPA Syed Ghazan Jamal from the Orakzai Tribal District. He has been given the Excise and Taxation department.

Zahoor Shakir has been appointed as the special assistant for the Auqaf and Religious Affairs department. Arif Ahmadzai has been appointed as the special assistant for the Mines and Mineral Development Department.

Riaz Khan has been appointed as the special assistant for Public Health Engineering, Shafiullah Khan as the special assistant for Anti-Corruption, Complaint Cell and PIT. Taj Muhammad Tarand as the special assistant for Prisons, Ahmad Hussain Shah as the special assistant for Population Welfare and Wazir Zada as the special assistants for Minority Affairs.

Meanwhile, sources in the government say that after expanding the cabinet, additional parliamentary secretaries could be inducted into the provincial government in the coming days following consultations between the prime minister and the chief minister.

Reshuffle

A reshuffle in the provincial cabinet has been on the cards ever since it was suggested by the senior leadership of the ruling PTI a few months ago.

In the major shakeups announced in the current setup is that Minister for Local Government, Elections and Rural Development Shahram Khan Tarakai has now been given the charge of the health ministry — a subject he had handled under the previous provincial government of PTI.

Similarly, Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan, who has been at the centre of conflicts with doctors in the province recently and who the doctors had asked to strip him of his ministry as part of any deal with the government, has now been given the social welfare ministry.

The other major shift has been Akbar Ayub Khan. He has been relieved of the provincial communications and works ministry and has instead been handed the elementary education ministry. The ministry previously did not have a full-time minister. Rather it was operated by the adviser to the chief minister Ziaullah Khan Bangash.

Ziaullah has now been assigned the portfolio of Science and Technology and Information Technology.

The previous incumbent of the science and IT, Special Assistant Kamran Bangash, has now been handed the local government portfolio.

The Minister for Mines and Mineral Development Dr Amjad Ali has now been assigned the critical portfolio of housing.

No women in the provincial cabinet

Despite the reshuffle and expansion of the provincial cabinet, no female lawmaker from the provincial assembly has been inducted.

Former K-P Assembly member and Quami Watan Party (QWP) lawmaker Meraj Hamayun Khan criticised the provincial government.

She said that despite tall claims from the incumbent government of merit-based appointments, empowerment of women and minorities, have proved to be lies.

She said that the exclusion of women and minorities from the provincial cabinet was disappointing because the provincial assembly has 26 qualified women members but none of them has been given a chance in the cabinet. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5^th, 2020.