Peshawar:
A perfect storm of political, administrative and security crises in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has finally cost Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, his office, when the imprisoned founder of the embossed ruling Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) decided on Wednesday to replace him with a young tribal legislative legislative, Muhammad Sohail Afridi.
Political analysts say Gandapur’s exhaust was long too late as he has been at the center of a political storm touched by accusations of betraying the party, sowing departments within its ranks and even defying Imran Khan’s directives.
Earlier, Gandapur said he withdrew from his role as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister, while the party’s secretary general, Salman Akram Raja, confirmed that the party’s founder Imran Khan instructed Sohail Afridi to take on the role of provincial commander.
In a post on X, Gandapur said: “In respectful compliance with my leaders’ orders … Imran Khan, it’s my honor to sore my resignation.”
He also attached a copy of his resignation sent to KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi.
“When I took over as chief minister, the province was confronted with a double challenge with financial ruin and threat of terror Nation-building in a province that was militarily categorized as a war zone, “the letter said.
Gandapur thanked his cabinet colleagues, assembly members of both PTI and the opposition and all officers in the KP bureaucracy, which he said helped him face “extraordinary challenges for governance” in the province.
“I may not be able to demand for sure that I did well with all these challenges, but one thing that I can say with the greatest security is that I served with absolute sincerity to the people of KP and always acted in Pakistan’s best interest.”
The message followed a whirl of rumors and denials. The reports had begun to circulate on social media that Gandapur had been asked to resign, while his spokesman initially rejected them as baseless.
Hours later, the PTI General Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, who came from a meeting with the party’s founder in Adiala Prison, however, what many had already begun to suspect.
“It is true that Ali Amin Gandapur is removed from the position of chief minister,” Raja told journalists. “Sohail Afridi has been nominated as the new chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This is the founder’s decision and he has explained the background behind it.”
Raja said IMRAN’s movement was driven by a “alarming security situation” in the province.
“There is a serious wave of terrorism in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Today, our soldiers and officers were martyrated in Orakzai,” he noted. “The founder was deeply saddened by the incident and felt that there was no opportunity left than bringing change.”
According to Raja, the PTI foundation chairman, the KP government had not failed to control himself from what he called the federal government’s “defective conflict policy”.
“The founder believes that this war policy and strife are misled. We have repeatedly said that this war has three stakeholders: the people of FATA, the Afghan government and the Afghan people. Without taking them into confidence, peace cannot be achieved.”
He said IMRAN was particularly disturbed by the recent mass portion of Afghan refugees.
“The way Afghans were driven out of Pakistan after forty years of hospitality has sown seeds of hatred; it’s an unforgivable act,” Raja quoted him as saying.
The PTI founder believed that his “vision for the province” had not been implemented, he added.
“The KP government could not differ from the federal government and agencies’ policies. Our people are martyrated, and of course there will be a reaction from our forces.”
‘New Beginning’
In addition, Raja described the founder’s decision to replace Gandapur with Sohail Afridi as “well thought out” and a “new beginning”.
“He believes that both federal and provincial level under Afridi’s leadership can adopt a better policy. Sohail Afridi will guide the federal government on how to achieve peace while respecting Pakhtun traditions,” he said.
In addition, Raja rejected proposals that Afridi was sympathy for the Taliban. “This is a baseless claim. Terrorism can only be resolved through dialogue; Afghanistan cannot be desired away, it is our neighbor.”
He added that there would be no vote on non-confidence in KP as PTI still enjoyed a “clear majority.”
“The founder has ordered Gandapur to resign. He thinks it is better for Gandapur to focus on public politics now.”
“Those who perform terrorism are those who cross 2,500 kilometers, not Afghans living inside Pakistan. The federal government is to speak to Kabul. Until the Afghan government is engaged, terrorism will not stop.”
He said the imprisoned party leader “feels proud of the victims of our brave soldiers and citizens” and assured that the transition would be smooth.
“We begin a new chapter in KP, free of ambiguity,” Raja said. “The founder always says that the choice of player depends on the situation and he has made his decision accordingly.”
However, Raja rejected speculation that the decision came from the recent dispute between Gandapur and Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan.
“Imran Khan also expressed good intentions for Ali Amin. He thinks it will also be good for Ali Amin to leave the office and become part of politics, it is politics for the people of KP,” he said.
‘Returning the trust’
Later in the evening, Ali Amin Gandapur confirmed his resignation and said, “The position of chief minister was a trust from Imran Khan. According to his direction, I return to this confidence by resigning from Embed.”
He promised full support for his successor and promised to “support and cooperate fully with the new chief minister”.
When the news of Sohail Afridi’s nomination broke, the security of police was immediately deployed outside his residence in Hayatabad, with additional staff stationed as a caution.
Family members, friends and party supporter flowed to his home to give congratulations, while PTI leaders paid tribute to his appointment as the beginning of a “new chapter” for the province.
It is relevant to note that the latest development follows a week after PTI was involved in controversy when Aleema Khan and Gandapur acted serious claims in which the latter accused Imran’s sister of such disagreement within the party.
The dispute began when Aleema claimed Gandapur had told her imprisoned brother that she was trying to hijack PTI using military intelligence (MI) and “the establishment.”
Her remarks came only a day after Gandapur held a two-hour meeting with the former prime minister in prison and left without talking to the media.
In a subsequent video statement responding to Aleema’s accusations, Gandapur claimed that campaigns were run to declare her as chairman of PTI. He admitted to having informed IMRAN that such campaigns and agendas injured the party.
The exchange of accusations between Aleema, which rose prominently after his brother’s prison in August 2023 and regularly visits him in Adiala Prison, and Gandapur caused further speculation about deep cracks between the PTI management and members of IMRAN KHAN’s family.
Earlier, in June, similar cracks appeared when the passage of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s fiscal budget vulnerable growing internal divisions within PTI.
