Punjab, K-P caretaker cabinets sworn in

PESHAWAR/LAHORE:

After Punjab, the process of forming the caretaker government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday was marred by controversy as the PTI rejected the 15-member interim cabinet.

In Lahore, eight members of the caretaker cabinet of Punjab took oath on Thursday at the Governor’s House in Lahore.

Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman administered oath to the caretaker cabinet.

Punjab Chief Secretary Chaudhry Zahid Akhtar Zaman read out the notification about their appointments.

The caretaker cabinet in Punjab that took oath included SM Tanveer, Dr Javed Akram, Ibrahim Murad, Bilal Afzal, Dr Jamal Nasir, Mansoor Qadir, Syed Azfar Ali Nasir and Aamir Mir.

Punjab Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi, chief secretary, provincial police chief Dr Usman Anwar and others were present at  the solemn ceremony.

The PTI and its ally PML-Q have already rejected the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to appoint the opposition PML-N’s nominee Mohsin as the caretaker chief minister of Punjab.

On Thursday, 14 of the 15-member caretaker cabinet of K-P were sworn in at a ceremony held at the Governor’s House as one of them was abroad and would be administered his oath on his return.

The PTI rejected the formation of the K-P cabinet over not consulting with the party before proceeding ahead with the move.

According to details, apart from three or four ministers in the cabinet, all others have been appointed on political grounds.

There are major political parties and leaders behind their appointments, with the exception of the PTI.

Former provincial finance minister Taimur Jhagra raised objections over the newly appointed interim cabinet.

He shared the notification of the appointments on Twitter, writing: “Sadly, this looks like a PDM [Pakistan Democratic Movement] cabinet, barring a couple of names…”

K-P Governor Haji Ghulam Ali administered the oath to the caretaker provincial ministers.

Caretaker Chief Minister Azam Khan participated in the oath-taking ceremony.

K-P Chief Secretary Dr Shehzad Bangash, Inspector General of Police Moazzam Jah Ansari, Peshawar Commissioner Riaz Mehsud, heads of administrative departments and other political and social personalities were also in attendance at the event.

The governor congratulated the provincial ministers and expressed his best wishes to them.

The cabinet members include Abdul Halim Qasuriya, Syed Masood Shah, Hamid Shah, Advocate Sawal Nazir, Bakht Nawaz, Fazal Elahi, Adnan Jalil, Shafiullah Khan, Haji Ghufran, Khushdil Khan Malik, Taj Muhammad Afridi, Muhammad Ali Shah, Justice (retd) Irshad Qaiser and Shahid Khan Khattak.

Of the 15 members, Manzoor Afridi, who is a JUI-F nominee, will be sworn in later as he is currently abroad.

Halim Qasuriya has been in the caretaker cabinet before, while his brother Abdul Karim Qasuriya is a former bureaucrat believed to be close to the JUI-F.

Masood Shah is a former IGP and a close friend of Caretaker CM Azam.
Hamid Shah belongs to Bannu and was a member of the K-P Assembly as an MPA of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) during the political alliance’s tenure.

Fazal Elahi and Adnan Jalil are members of the business community and considered close to the K-P governor.

Adnan Jalil is the son of ANP leader Haji Mohammad Adeel.

Shafiullah Khan belongs to Dir and is a cousin of K-P PPP President Najamuddin Khan.

Haji Ghufran belongs to the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP). He remained a QWP senator and is a close friend of former governor and chief minister Sardar Mehtab Abbasi of the PML-N.

Khushdil Khan Malik is from Nowshera and a former bureaucrat.

Taj Muhammad Afridi is from the Khyber district and a brother of former MNA Shahjee Gul Afridi -- an ex-senator who lost the 2021  election held for a seat in the upper house of parliament.

Muhammad Ali Shah, who is from Swat, belongs to the PML-N. He had remained a former nazim of Swat.

Justice (retd) Irshad Qaiser is a former judge of the Peshawar High Court and has also remained a member of the ECP from K-P.

Shahid Khattak is from Nowshera and belongs to the ANP.

Sawal Nazir Advocate is from Bannu while Bakht Nawaz from Battagram  is a son of former JUI-F federal minister Alamzeb Khan.

In a notification, the governor appointed the cabinet “in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 224(1a) read with Article 105 of the Constitution”.

Article 224(1a) states that in case an assembly is dissolved under Article 58 or Article 112, “the president, or the governor, as the case may be, shall appoint a caretaker cabinet”, provided that “the members of the federal and provincial caretaker cabinets shall be appointed on the advice of the caretaker prime minister or the caretaker chief minister, as the case may be”.

PTI Secretary General Asad Umar accused the coalition government of blatantly violating the Constitution by appointing a caretaker chief minister in Punjab with a 'shady’ background, posting officers who were against his party in that province, and announcing a “biased” interim set-up in K-P.

Highlighting the violations while addressing a news conference on Thursday in Lahore, the former federal minister said a dubious character was appointed the caretaker chief minister of Punjab and subsequently, senior officers involved in brutality against the activists of the PTI on May 25 last year as well as close associates of former Punjab chief minister Hamza Sharif had been included in the team of the advocate general.

He maintained that the police had disobeyed the orders of the Lahore High Court by not presenting PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry before it.
Umar also expressed his reservations over the announcement of the caretaker cabinet in K-P.

“The members of a caretaker government should be apolitical with the sole aim of holding free and fair elections. However in K-P, people affiliated with the PDM parties were appointed members of the provincial cabinet. The ‘imported government' has adjusted its own people in the caretaker set-up,” he added.

Umar castigated the Punjab and K-P governors for not giving a date for the elections -- saying it was a blatant violation of the Constitution.

He accused the PML-N of showing the intention of violating the Constitution by pondering over the option of delaying the polls in both the provinces.

“According to legal experts, the Constitution clearly states that elections must be held within 90 days after an assembly is dissolved and there is no relaxation in it,” the PTI leader noted.

“The deliberate delay in holding of elections would mean subversion of the Constitution and hence Article 6 would apply if this happens,” he added.

Umar maintained that the nation had decided that it would stand with PTI Chairman Imran Khan and struggle for true independence, democracy and supremacy for the rule of law.

“Both the party and the people have categorically rejected the conspiracy hatched against the country. It is hoped that the judiciary would also reject this conspiracy and play its role to stop the constitutional violations,” Umar said.

He castigated the coalition government for the economic meltdown, adding that Pakistan was facing unprecedented inflation.

He added that thousands of people had lost their jobs and foreign exchange reserves had fallen to a record low.

Umar also criticised Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for artificially controlling the exchange rate. “After removing the cap on the dollar, it is still not available at Rs250,” he added.

He maintained that the economic situation would worsen in the country unless fresh elections were held.

He demanded immediate announcement of election dates for Punjab and K-P and it should be held within 90 days, as stated in the Constitution.

To question, he asked under which law the PTI chairman could be arrested.

“If any illegal or unconstitutional step is taken against our leader, then we will strongly respond to it,” he warned.

Talking to the media, PTI Central Punjab President Dr Yasmin Rashid castigated the ECP and questioned its impartiality.

She said as expected, the ECP was playing a dubious role.

“How can free and fair elections be held under this biased commission?” she questioned.

However, she was confident that the PTI would overcome all “foul” tactics against it.

“Our activists would not permit it,” she added.

The former provincial minister also said that no matter how hard they tried, these caretakers could not prolong their stay.

“They would hold elections within 90 days or we will go to courts. We will go to the court for every violation,” she vowed.