K-P sees politically unstable year

On January 18 last year, ex-CM of PTI sent advice for dissolution of provincial assembly to governor

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government will be the first ever caretaker setup in the country to complete one full year in office, which saw two chief ministers and three cabinets and in and out of many provincial ministers.

The 18th of this month will mark the first anniversary of the dissolution of the provincial assembly and four days later, on January 22, the caretaker setup will complete its one year in office. However, last year, the caretaker setup, led by chief minister Azam Khan was sworn in.

On January 18 last year, the then chief minister Mehmood Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) sent the advice for the dissolution of the provincial assembly to the governor, on the instructions of then party chairman Imran Khan. Governor Haji Ghulam Ali accepted the advice and dissolved the assembly.

As per law, the outgoing chief minister and opposition leader in the dissolved assembly are required to name the caretaker chief minister. However, Mehmood Khan had initially refused to talk to the opposition leader Akram Durrani of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

Read PTI notifies candidates for K-P NA seats

Then, senior PTI leader and now the leader of the PTI-Parliamentarians, intervened and arranged the talks between the two and helped them reach consensus on the name of former bureaucrat Azam Khan, who tool oath as the caretaker chief minister on January 22, 2023.

The chief minister then formed his cabinet in consultation with parties included in the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), because of which the provincial set up remained dogged by controversies – sometimes the ministers were expelled and sometimes the entire cabinet had to leave.

At the outset, Khushdil Malik could not take oath as a caretaker minister despite his nomination because he did not fulfil his post-retirement protocols. Also, Adnan Jalil had to leave the cabinet after withdrawal of support from his main political party – the Awami National Party (ANP).

Meanwhile, another minister, Shahid Khattak, was removed from the cabinet instructions of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) after he participated in a political event. Later, because of the controversies, chief minister Azam Khan dismissed the entire cabinet.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2024.