New interim K-P CM sworn in

Justice (retd) Arshad Hussain Shah on Sunday was appointed as the caretaker chief minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), following the death of former interim CM Azam Khan a day earlier.

K-P Governor Haji Ghulam Ali administered the oath of office to the new interim chief minister. However, the PTI party has announced approaching courts against the move.

Earlier in the day, former K-P chief minister Mahmood Khan met with former opposition leader Akram Khan Durrani at the CM’s office for consultation on the appointment of the new interim provincial chief executive and discussed various names.

They agreed on the name of Justice (retd) Shah for the slot and sent a summary for this purpose to the governor, who signed it. According to a notification issued after the meeting, Mahmood and Durrani agreed to appoint Shah as the caretaker CM under clause 1(A) of Article 224 of the Constitution.

Justice (retd) Shah was the interim law minister in the dissolved cabinet of the late Azam Khan. He previously served as the chief justice of Gilgit-Baltistan.

The late Azam Khan's cabinet will be reinstated under Justice (retd) Shah with the same members serving as ministers, special advisers and deputy ministers.

The province had plunged into a constitutional crisis on Saturday as the cabinet dissolved after the demise of caretaker chief minister Azam Khan, who succumbed to ill health.

The governance of the K-P was temporarily handed over to the governor, who sent separate letters to Mahmood and Durrani, inviting them to begin consultation under Article 224 (1A) of the Constitution for the next caretaker CM's appointment.

The process for appointing a new caretaker chief minister had raised legal complexities as it is the first instance of such a case.

According to sources within the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the responsibility of appointing the new caretaker chief minister fell on either the former chief minister or the opposition leader.

In the event of a disagreement, the matter would have been sent to the ECP for its resolution.

Former advocate general Shumail Ahmad Butt explained that under Article 224-A of the Constitution, the caretaker chief minister would be jointly appointed by the former CM and the opposition leader.

He elaborated that the former CM and opposition leader must reach an agreement within three days.

In case of a deadlock in the decision-making process, the matter will then be referred to a committee or directly to the ECP. However, Butt highlighted a constitutional nuance, saying that the Constitution provided a procedure for appointing only one caretaker chief minister and not successive appointments.

Former ECP secretary Kanwar Dilshad was of the view that as the assemblies no longer existed, the Senate was empowered to decide in such a case. He added that if the Senate was unable to agree on a name, only then the matter could be referred to the ECP.

Azam Khan, an 89-year-old retired bureaucrat who passed away on Saturday morning, served as the caretaker K-P chief minister for 9.5 months – earning him the record of the longest serving interim CM in the country’s history and the first one to pass away while still in office.

Separately, the PTI announced that it would approach the courts against the appointment of the new interim K-P CM. Speaking to the media, PTI K-P deputy president and former MPA Zahir Shah Toru said that the appointment of the interim CM by Mahmood and Durrani was "unacceptable".

He questioned under which law the K-P governor had written letters to ex-CM Mahmood and opposition leader Durrani for the appointment of the interim CM as neither of them currently held those posts.

He added that this matter should be resolved under the Constitution and the governor should not make his own formulas. The PTI leader maintained that the caretaker CM “selected” by the governor, Mahmood and Durrani would be “political” and the party could not expect a level playing field from him.