PESHAWAR: In a rare consensus between the treasury and opposition benches in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, both the sides agreed on Friday to appoint former chief secretary Azam Khan as caretaker chief minister of the province.
The decision was announced during a joint press conference by CM Mahmood Khan and opposition leader Akram Durrani.
Durrani said that the government and the opposition jointly nominated Azam Khan, adding that names of Zafarullah Khan and Sahibzada Saeed were also considered.
He said that PTI leader and former defence minister Pervez Khattak played an important role in reaching the consensus.
A former bureaucrat, Azam Khan remained Minister for Finance, Planning & Development K-P from October 24, 2007 to April 1, 2008.
He was UNDP Advisor to Lachi Poverty Reduction Project (LPRP) from January 1997 to June 6, 2007. Azam Khan was also the Chairman Pakistan Tobacco Board, Ministry of Commerce.
He was also the Secretary of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Resources in Islamabad. He was the Chief Secretary in K-P from September 1990 to July 1993.
Azam Khan has also served as Vice President Children’s SOS Villages of Pakistan in Peshawar, Director Imran Khan Foundation (Flood Relief and Rehabilitation), Member National Oversight Disaster Management Council (NODMC) Pakistan and Chairman Supreme Court Flood Commission Enquiry.
Earlier on Wednesday, KP Governor Haji Ghulam Ali signed the summary for dissolution of the provincial assembly following advice from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, mere days after the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly.
The governor directed Mahmood Khan to continue working as acting chief minister until the interim government takes office.
Governor Ghulam Ali also expressed the willingness to arbitrate between Mahmood Khan and the leader of the opposition.
On Tuesday, the KP CM had sent advice to the governor seeking the dissolution of the provincial assembly under Article 112(1) of the Constitution on the instructions of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.
The dissolution of the assembly will trigger the process of consultation between the outgoing chief minister and the opposition leader for installing an interim government. Sources have said that both sides were preparing the list of their nominees for the caretaker chief minister.
The dissolution of the KP Assembly comes days after the dissolution of the Punjab Assembly, which was also dissolved on the instruction of Imran. The PTI chief had announced on November 26 at the culmination of the Haqeeqi Azadi March that he would dissolve the two provincial assemblies, where the PTI was at the helm.
Imran had said that if the elections were to be held in 66 per cent of the country after the dissolution of the assemblies, the government would be unable to stop general elections from taking place.
