More than two dozen caretaker ministers of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) were set to be de-notified from their posts over allegations of their involvement in politics, officials said on Thursday.
Caretaker Information Minister Feroze Jamal Kakakhel said that the Caretaker Chief Minister Azam Khan had a meeting with the cabinet members on Thursday and sought resignation of the ministers involved in politics.
According to Kakakhel, 19 ministers had already resigned, while seven more would resign shortly, adding that their resignations would be sent to Governor Haji Ghulam Ali for approval on Friday.
After the approval of the resignations, the ministers would be relieved of their posts, while the chief minister would form a new cabinet, which was expected to include retired bureaucrats, judges and technocrats.
Read more: Sacking of ministers on K-P cabinet agenda
For some time, these 26 members of the K-P cabinet and the government team, were constantly under attack for their political activities. Recently, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) asked the chief minister to dismiss them.
The caretaker set-up in the province was formed after the dissolution of the K-P assembly by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in January this year.
At that time, the chief minister and the opposition leader had agreed to the appointment of Azam Khan, a retired bureaucrat, as the caretaker chief minister. Later, the caretaker cabinet was formed in January and February.
However, various ministers, advisers and special assistants were included in the cabinet on the recommendations of the political parties, including the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
They included the son of the Central General Secretary of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), some former office-bearers of political parties and former members of Parliament as well as the provincial assembly.
Because of such allegations, Shahid Khattak and Adnan Jalil were dismissed from the cabinet. Khattak had also been awarded party ticket by the Awami National Party (ANP) for election to a K-P Assembly seat from Nowshera.
CM Azam invited the cabinet to the Chief Minister House, where he asked ministers to resign. On that 19 members immediately submitted their resignations to the chief minister, Kakakhel said.
Information Minister Kakakhel, who himself was among the 19 resigning ministers, said that seven more ministers sought time for consultation, but they were expected to submit their resignations shortly.
Besides, there were also allegations of corruption, involvement in politics and poor performance against the cabinet members. The sacked ministers also include those considered ATMs [financiers] of their political parties.
According to the sources, those who submitted their resignations are Syed Masood Shah, Abdul Halim Kasuria, Irshad Qaiser, Muhammad Ali Shah, Hidayatullah, Salma Begum, Riaz Anwar, Pir Haroon Shah, Shiraz Akram, Malik Maher Elahi, Hamid Shah, Bakht Nawaz, Haji Ghufran, Fazal Ellahi, Taj Muhammad, Himayatullah, Zafar Mahmood, and Rehmat Salam.
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