A new, 12-member cabinet took oath in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday. The previous caretaker cabinet had resigned earlier this month after irreconcilable differences had emerged over their alleged political activities.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Ghulam Ali administered the oath of office to the new cabinet members at the Governor House in Peshawar on Saturday morning. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Caretaker Chief Minister Mohammad Azam Khan attended the meeting.
The new 12-member cabinet would comprise nine ministers, two advisors and a special assistant.
The new ministers include Syed Masud Shah, Barrister Feroze Jamal Shah Kakakhel, Justice (retired) Irshad Qaiser, Ahmad Rasool Bangash, Asif Rafiq, Dr Najeebullah, Dr Mohammad Qasim Jan, Justice (retired) Arshad Hussain Shah and Syed Aamir Abdullah.
Dr Riaz Anwar and Dr Sarfaraz Ali Shah will be advisers to the CM, while Zafarullah Khan will be a special assistant to the chief minister.
Of these, Justice (retired) Irshad Qaiser, Syed Masood Shah and Dr Riaz Anwar return to the cabinet, having been part of the caretaker cabinet that resigned.
En masse resignation
The new cabinet was sworn in after the previous 25-member cabinet resigned en masse earlier this month.
That cabinet included around 14 caretaker ministers, including Syed Masood Shah, Abdul Haleem Qasuriya, Justice (retired) Irshad Qadeer, Muhammad Ali Shah, Bakht Nawaz Khan Thakot, Mazoor Khan Afridi, Haji Muhammad Ghufran, Hamid Shah, Shafiullah Khan, Advocate Sawal Nazir, Fazal Elahi, Taj Muhammad Afridi, Barrister Feroze Jamal Shah Kakakhel, Matiullah.
There were five advisors, including Himayatullah Khan, Zafar Mahmood, Rehmat Salam Khattak, Dr Riaz Anwar, and Syed Jarrar Hussain Bukhari.
The six special assistants included Salma Begum, Pir Haroon Shah, Hidayatullah Afridi, Sheraz Akram Bacha, Malik Mehr Elahi and Ashraf Ullah.
These cabinet members had resigned over allegations that they were involved in politics, ignoring neutrality as members of the caretaker cabinet.
The issue gained steam after caretaker minister Shahid Khattak resigned in July, citing personal commitments but not before addressing a public gathering of the Awami National Party (ANP).