Peshawar: In a surprising development, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the opposition have agreed on a name for the interim chief minister in the province.
In the meeting held to finalize the appointment of caretaker chief minister of the province, the name of former KP chief secretary Azam Khan was unanimously agreed upon.
Azam Khan is our unanimous candidate for the post of Caretaker Chief Minister. We have chosen a person who is acceptable to all.”
Commenting on the development, KP Chief Minister Mehmood Khan said that for the first time in “history” the naming of a caretaker chief minister was done by consensus.
“We agreed on Azam Khan in consultation with our leader,” Khan said while agreeing to the candidate on behalf of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan.
The nominated person holds the post of Federal Secretary for Religious Affairs and Petroleum. He obtained his Bar at Law degree from Lincoln’s Inn, London.
While the dissolution of the KP Assembly took place much later than the Punjab Assembly, the unanimous decision on the name of caretaker chief minister was made more quickly in the North-Western Province.
Meanwhile, in Punjab, differences persist between the government and the opposition over the finalization of the name of the interim chief minister.
The meeting of the committee set up for the appointment of caretaker chief minister in Punjab started today, but the meeting ended without results and the leaders of both sides criticized each other in their pressers.
The matter will now be taken up by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which will decide within two days who will be appointed to the post.
However, outgoing Chief Minister Punjab Pervaiz Elahi has already announced that if the decision-making authority is left to the ECP, he will take the matter to the Supreme Court.
