K-P governor administers oath to 13-member provincial cabinet

Cabinet includes 10 provincial ministers, two advisors, and one special assistant

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi administered the oath to a 13-member provincial cabinet during a ceremony at the Governor House.

Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi, Provincial Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, lawmakers from both the national and provincial assemblies, party leaders, and senior officials attended the event.

At a ceremony held at the Governor House in Peshawar, ten members of the provincial cabinet took oath as ministers.

Those sworn in included Mina Khan Afridi, Arshad Ayub Khan, Amjad Ali, Aftab Alam Afridi, Fazal Shakoor Khan, Khaliq-ur-Rehman, Riaz Khan, Syed Fakhr Jahan, Aqibullah Khan and Faisal Khan. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor congratulated the new ministers and extended his best wishes to them.

The ceremony was also attended by Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah, Inspector General of Police Zulfiqar Hameed, heads of administrative departments, and various political and social figures.

In the K-P cabinet, Mazammil Aslam and Taj Muhammad will serve as advisors, while Shafee Jan will assume responsibilities as Special Assistant to the chief minister.

Read: K-P cabinet consists of only 10 members as per Imran’s instructions: CM Afridi

CM Afridi formed a 13-member cabinet, comprising 10 provincial ministers, two advisors, and one special assistant, on Friday. The CM revealed that the cabinet will initially include 10 ministers as per the instructions received from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf founder Imran Khan.

Delay in Cabinet announcement

Afridi had stated that he would not form a government without consulting Imran, which caused a delay in the formation of the cabinet.

After the resignation of former chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur earlier this month, PTI nominated Sohail Afridi as the new leader of the provincial government. Afridi was sworn in on October 15, but despite repeated speculation about potential cabinet members, no formal announcement had been made.

Also read: K-P cabinet formation delays as new CM waits for party founder's advice

Under the Constitution, there is no fixed time limit for forming a cabinet after the election of a chief minister. According to Article 132, the chief minister advises the governor on ministerial appointments, while Article 133 allows the chief minister to temporarily manage administrative affairs in the absence of a cabinet.

In practice, however, the lack of a cabinet had paralysed routine governance in the province. Most official matters were being handled by the bureaucracy under the supervision of the chief secretary, effectively sidelining elected representatives.

During his maiden speech in the provincial assembly, CM Afridi reaffirmed his loyalty to the PTI founder, declaring, “I took votes in Imran Khan’s name, and I will govern according to his vision.” He further stated that no cabinet appointments will be finalised until he personally consults Khan.

Also read: PTI's Sohail Afridi elected new K-P CM

During Gandapur’s tenure, K-P had a 32-member cabinet comprising 16 ministers, four advisers, and 12 special assistants. The prolonged delay in reconstituting a new cabinet has drawn criticism from the opposition.

Opposition Leader Dr Ibadullah had expressed astonishment at the government’s paralysis, saying, “It is shocking that an entire province is being run without a cabinet simply because a 'prisoner' cannot be consulted. If all instructions are coming through Imran Khan’s tweets, the cabinet list could also be announced the same way. It’s tragic that K-P has been without an operational government for two weeks.”