10-member KP cabinet sworn in

PESHAWAR: A 10-member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Cabinet took oath on Friday during a ceremony held at the Governor House, ARY News reported.

KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi administered the oath to the newly appointed ministers. The ceremony was attended by Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, Speaker of the KP Assembly Babar Saleem Swati, senior government officials, and other notable personalities.

The ministers who took 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 provincial ministers and extended his best wishes for their future responsibilities.

Senior bureaucrats, including the chief secretary, IG KP, and heads of administrative departments, were also present at the ceremony.

The sources said that many cabinet ministers’ names were changed after Chief Minister Sohail Afridi held a meeting with Aleema Khan, the sister of the PTI founding chairman Imran Khan, at the KP house in Islamabad.

The sources said that Aqib Ullah, brother of former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, was included in the cabinet at the insistence of Aleema Khan.

Earlier, PTI’s Khurram Zeeshan was elected as a senator in the by-poll from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) after securing 91 votes, according to unofficial results and unconfirmed results, ARY News reported.

The opposition’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate, Taj Muhammad Afridi, was the runner-up after receiving 45 votes.

The Senate by-election was held following the disqualification of Shibli Faraz, who was the Leader of the Opposition in the upper house.

Out of the 145 members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly (KP), 133 cast their votes in the election for the Senate seat.