Imran dismisses Manzoor Afridi’s name for KP caretaker CM

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PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Monday directed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to reconsider the name of Manzoor Afridi for the position of caretaker chief minister.

According to reports, the PTI chief has asked Khattak to put forward another name for the position.

However, Khattak’s spokesman Shaukat Yousafzai said that Afridi’s name was neither finalised nor has it been dropped, adding that a meeting was held on Sunday night to deliberate over the matter. “The chief minister and Leader of Opposition Lutfur Rehman will meet again to discuss the matter,” he added.

On Saturday, it was reported that the KP government and opposition were able to reach consensus on a name for the caretaker chief minister of the province.

Khattak and Rehman had reportedly agreed on Afridi’s name during a one-on-one meeting.

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.

He 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 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.