Tariq Saeed Peshawar
As directed by the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, some twenty members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caretaker cabinet have tendered their resignations in order to pave for nonpartisan and apolitical caretaker setup in line with the directives of the Election Commission of Pakistan.
The ECP had objected to the activities of the few ministers showing their political affiliations.
Twenty KP ministers have sent their resignations to the caretaker chief minister following the ECP’s directives, while eight others would submit their resignations soon.
The ministers who stepped down from their positions include Masood Shah, Abdul Haleem Qasuriya, Irshad Qaiser, Muhammad Ali Shah, Hidayatullah, Salma Begum, Riaz Anwar, Pir Haroon Shah, Sheraz Akram, Malik Meher Elahi, Hamid Shah, Bakht Nawaz, Haji Ghufran, Fazal Elahi, Taj Muhammad, Himayatullah, Zafar Mahmood and Rehmat Salam Khattak.
The election commission had directed the ministers to submit their resignations after disclosure of their political affiliations with different parties. On July 31, the Election Commission of Pakistan had asked the caretaker Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to remove ministers who are involved in politics.
The Election Commission of Pakistan Secretary had written a letter to the caretaker CM of KP and took notice of the political involvement of caretaker ministers, secretaries and assistants. The ECP had sought the removal of caretaker ministers, advisors and assistants over ‘political associations’.
The letter stated ECP has come to know about the appointments of caretaker ministers based on political affiliations and former caretaker minister Shahid Khattak is proof of political appointment.
