CM inducts Shafi Ullah Jan as Special Assistant, Meena Khan Afridi takes charge of Local Government portfolio
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has formally assigned portfolios to the newly formed 13-member cabinet, which was sworn in a day earlier.
According to an official notification issued by the administration department after the Chief Minister’s approval, ten members of the provincial cabinet have been assigned new departmental roles.
Shafi Ullah Jan from Kohat has been inducted as Special Assistant for Information, Broadcasting and Public Relations. Meena Khan Afridi from Peshawar has been given charge of local government department, a portfolio previously held by former CM Ali Amin Gandapur along with higher education.
Read: KP governor administers oath to 13-member provincial cabinet
Arshad Ayub Khan will now head the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. He was previously a minister for the municipal council. Fazal Shakoor Khan, who was earlier in charge of the Ministry of Labour, has been allotted Public Health Engineering.
Dr. Amjad Ali will continue to oversee the housing portfolio, a position he held under previous provincial administrations. Aftab Alam Afridi has been reinstated as Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights, while Syed Fakhar Jehan will now head the Excise and Taxation Department, after serving as Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs.
Riaz Khan has been allotted the irrigation portfolio. He was previously Minister for Communications and Works. Khaleeq-ur-Rehman, who previously headed the Excise and Taxation Department, will now oversee the Health Department.
Aqib Ullah Khan, brother of former Speaker of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser, has been appointed Minister of Relief, Rehabilitation and Settlement after previously managing irrigation. Meanwhile, Faisal Khan Tarakai, brother of former senior minister Shahram Tarakai, has taken charge of the labor ministry. He previously served as the Provincial Minister of Primary and Secondary Education during Gandapur’s tenure.
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Among the advisers, Muzzammil Aslam has been reappointed as Finance Adviser, while Taj Muhammad Tarand has been assigned Sports and Youth Affairs, a portfolio he previously held as Special Assistant on Prisons under the Mahmood Khan government.
Following the resignation of former Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur last month, the PTI had nominated Sohail Afridi as the new head of the provincial government. Afridi was sworn in on 15 October, but despite repeated speculation about potential cabinet members, no formal announcement was made at the time.
During his maiden speech in the provincial assembly, CM Afridi reaffirmed his loyalty to the PTI founder and declared, “I took votes in the name of Imran Khan and I will rule according to his vision.” He further stated, “No Cabinet appointments will be finalized until he personally consults Khan.”
The absence of a cabinet had paralyzed routine governance in the province. Most official affairs were handled by the bureaucracy under the supervision of the Chief Secretary, effectively sidelining elected representatives.
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The delay in reconstituting a new cabinet had drawn criticism from the opposition. After deliberations, CM Afridi on Friday formed a 13-member cabinet, comprising 10 provincial ministers, two advisers and a special assistant – slightly less than the one formed by former CM Gandapur.
Afridi revealed that the cabinet would initially include 10 ministers, following instructions received from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan.
During Gandapur’s tenure, KP had a 32-member cabinet comprising 16 ministers, four advisers and 12 special assistants.
