A new 10-member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Cabinet took its oath on Friday in a ceremony at the Governor House. KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi administered the oath to the newly appointed ministers. The ceremony was attended by Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, senior officials, and other prominent figures.
The ministers who took the oath include Meena Khan, Arshad Ayub Khan, Amjad Ali, Aftab Alam Afridi, Fazal Shakoor Khan, Khaleequr Rehman, Riaz Khan, Syed Fakhar Jehan, Aqib Ullah Khan, and Faisal Khan. Governor Kundi congratulated the ministers and wished them well for their future responsibilities. Senior bureaucrats, including the Chief Secretary and IG KP, were also present at the event.
Sources suggest that many of the cabinet ministers’ names were changed after a meeting between Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and Aleema Khan, Imran Khan’s sister, at the KP House in Islamabad. According to these sources, Aqib Ullah Khan, brother of former NA Speaker Asad Qaiser, was included in the cabinet at Aleema Khan’s insistence.
In other political developments, PTI’s Khurram Zeeshan was elected as a senator from KP after securing 91 votes in a by-poll. His opponent, Taj Muhammad Afridi of the opposition PML-N, received 45 votes. The by-election was held following the disqualification of Shibli Faraz, the former Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.
Out of 145 members of the KP Assembly, 133 cast their votes in the Senate by-election. The election results mark a significant political development for both the ruling PTI and the opposition in the province.
