–Manzoor Afridi is brother of PTI Senator Ayub Afridi and uncle of Peshawar Zalmi owner Javed Afridi
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government and opposition on Saturday were able to reach consensus on a name for the caretaker chief minister (CM) of the province.
According to informed sources, KP CM Pervez Khattak and KP Opposition Leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman agreed on Afridi’s name during a one-on-one meeting.
The KP government and opposition have come to a common conclusion regarding an interim chief minister for the second time. The first time being in 2013, when Ameer Haider Hoti and former opposition leader Akram Khan Durrani had agreed on the appointment of Justice (r) Tariq Pervez for the position.
Afridi is originally from Bara region, Khyber Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). He is a young graduate from the Sepah tribe, who if posted will be the first person to be a chief minister from the ex-tribal region which has now been merged into KP.
The interim CM is the son of former Member National Assembly (MNA) Haji Muhammad Shah Afridi, brother of Senator Ayub Afridi, uncle of Peshawar Zalmi’s owner Javed Afridi and cousin of Senator Mirza Khan Afridi.
The family owns international brand Haier and also owns trade-industrial units in United Arab Emirate, Germany and several other countries.
It is pertinent to mention here that Ayub Afridi was elected as senator from KP on a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ticket on March 3, 2018. On the same day, Mirza Khan Afridi was elected as senator for FATA on a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ticket.
Additionally, Maulana Lutfur Rehman is Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman’s younger brother.
Other names under consideration for the office of caretaker CM included former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice (r) Nasirul Mulk, Justice (r) Dost Muhammad,ex-chief secretaries Shakeel Afridi and Abdullah Khan, ex-civil officer Sahibzada Muhammad Saeed. The name of Manzoor Afridi for the same office was a surprising addition.
