Exit stage: Kakakhel resigns amid rumours of fall out with ANP

Some say the minister for prisons quit due to health concerns.

PESHAWAR: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Minister for Prisons Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel has resigned from his seat as well as the Awami National Party (ANP), The Express Tribune has learnt.

Sources close to the minister said Kakakhel quit both positions on Monday. “The resignation was delivered to the K-P chief minister,” said one person privy to the matter.

The insider believed Kakakhel resigned due to “health problems”. He expressed ignorance about any other reasons behind the minister’s resignation.



However, another source maintained Kakakhel had been facing problems with ANP’s leadership over development funds allotted to prisons for the past few months. He said the leadership was concerned about Kakakhel’s commitment to contest the upcoming elections on the party ticket and withheld funds allotted to him.

In a bid to resolve these issues, Kakakhel also met Chief Minister Amir Haider Hoti on Sunday. However, the meeting did not bear fruit, he claimed. “He [Kakakhel] told the chief minister he will not contest elections on the ANP ticket.”



ANP Provincial General Secretary Arbab Tahir confirmed Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel’s resignation from the prisons ministry and the party. Tahir said he “was in the dark” about Kakakhel’s reasons for quitting, adding that his party was not aware of any dissent.

Kakakhel himself, however, could not be contacted despite several attempts.

Switching sides

Hailing from Karak district, Mian Nisar Gul Kakakhel has been a part of both Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and ANP-PPP coalition governments.

He was elected to the erstwhile NWFP assembly in 2002 from a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ticket. He defeated MMA candidate Muhammad Iqbal Khattak and ANP’s Farid Khan Toofan before switching parties and aligning with the MMA.

Kakakhel then contested the 2008 elections as an independent candidate from the same constituency. Following his election, Kakakhel joined the ANP ranks and was made the minister for prisons in the K-P cabinet.

On June 11, 2009, his convoy was ambushed in Darra Adamkhel, Frontier Region (FR) Kohat. Three of his guards died, while Kakakhel managed to escape with bullet wounds in the chest and abdomen.

He made it to the headlines again, after his name was implicated in the kidnapping case of a girl in May 2010. He resigned following the incident, but was sworn in as a minister after being acquitted of all charges in September.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2013.