Citing lack of solid reason, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Haji Ghulam Ali has returned a notification—that landed on his desk for the second time—seeking his assent for the removal of Adnan Jalil Khan as caretaker minister for industries.
The fresh summary, signed by caretaker Chief Minister Mohammad Azam Khan, had also taken notice of the governor’s concerns about new appointments taking a financial toll on the province and insisted that replacing the minister with another will not have such an impact.
It further stated that under Article 105 of the Constitution, the governor shall act on and in accordance with the advice of the cabinet or the chief minister.
The caretaker chief minister’s repeated efforts to remove Mr Jalil have come against the backdrop of a brewing tension within the Awami National Party (ANP), party insiders confirmed to The Express Tribune.
Jalil is believed to have a good rapport with the governor, who belongs to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F). The matter has taken on heightened importance ahead of the upcoming elections during which the stakes will be high for the JUI-F.
Therefore, acting on the instructions of the ANP’s provincial president Aimal Wali Khan, it was decided to replace him with Ashrafullah Dawar – a well-calculated act of politicking believed to result in bright chances for the party to sweep the polls.
“The cash-rich politician [Ashrafullah Dawar] will also help finance the party during the elections,” a source added.
JUI-F’s raw nerve hit?
Adnan Jalil was given the charge of industries, commerce and revenue departments by the caretaker government earlier this year. However, he is said to have fallen from grace.
Defending his party’s volte-face on Jalil’s appointment, provincial general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak in a statement asserted that the ANP was entitled to take such a decision as it was purely its prerogative. “Why is the JUI-F in trouble over the removal of the minister?”
He said the party received many complaints against the caretaker minister as well as the governor, adding that the ANP was a democratic party and all the decisions were taken on the basis of merit.
Anyone found guilty of something will be taken to task and removed from their seat, Babak said while extolling the party’s decision to pick Dawar, who hails from South Waziristan, as a measure to support the underdeveloped areas of the region and provide relief to the people.
‘Punished for highlighting corruption’
Meanwhile, Adnan Jalil told The Express Tribune that he believed he was being punished for highlighting mega scandals and corruption in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Development and Management Company (KPEZDMC).
Published in The Express Tribune, July 17th, 2023.
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