The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government allocated portfolios to the newly formed 13-member all-male provincial cabinet on Saturday.
The 13-member provincial cabinet chosen by KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi took oath a day ago in Peshawar.
Many on social media were quick to point out that the new KP government lacked female representation.
A notification issued today by the Cabinet wing of the Administration Department of the KP government said CM Afridi assigned the following portfolios to the 13 members:
Provincial ministers:
- Meena Khan Afridi: local government, elections and rural development
- Arshad Ayub Khan – primary and secondary education
- Fazal Shakoor Khan – public health engineering
- Amjad Ali – housing
- Aftab Alam Afridi: law, parliamentary affairs and human rights
- Syed Fakhar Jehan: Excise, Taxes and Narcotics Control
- Riaz Khan – irrigation
- Khaleequr Rehman – health
- Aqibullah Khan: relief, rehabilitation and settlement
- Faisal Khan Tarakai – work
assistants
- Muzzammil Aslam – financial advisor
- Taj Muhammad – sports and youth affairs advisor
- Shafiullah Jan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Public Relations
Afridi, who was elected the new provincial chief executive last month, had previously insisted he would announce his team after meeting jailed PTI founder Imran Khan.
However, after several attempts to meet with the former prime minister failed, Imran’s sister told the newly appointed prime minister that he had “full authority” to form the provincial cabinet.
Opposition members in the KP Assembly criticized the ruling PTI for failing to form the provincial cabinet, saying government affairs had stopped. Lawmakers had also expressed fears that the prolonged delay in forming the cabinet was tantamount to inviting the imposition of an emergency in the province.
The PTI provincial chapter had also earlier insisted that members of the previous cabinet with “allegations of corruption and bad reputation” should not be part of the new one.
