PESHAWAR: Three aides to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister resigned from their respective positions here on Saturday.

They included adviser on science and information technology Ziaullah Bangash, adviser on energy and power Himayatullah Khan and special assistant on excise and taxation Ghazi Ghazan Jamal, who cited ‘personal and unavoidable circumstances’ as reasons for quitting their offices.

The development comes on the heels of the induction of four new ministers, including former senior minister Mohammad Atif Khan, Shakeel Khan, Abdul Shakoor Khan and Faisal Amin Khan, who were sworn in on Monday.

A notification issued by the administration department said in exercise of powers conferred by Section 3 of the KP Advisers and Special Assistants to Chief Minister (Appointment) Act 1989, the governor of the province had accepted the resignations of Himayatullah Khan, Ziaullah Khan Bangash and Ghazi Ghazan Jamal.

Govt spokesman says cabinet reshuffle on the cards

It added that the three ceased to hold the portfolios of the CM’s advisers and special assistants with an immediate effect.

Mr Himayatullah wrote in the resignation letter that it was no longer possible for him to continue serving in his position and therefore, he was resigning from the office.

He said he had tried to promote the interests of the province in the key sectors of the oil, gas and power.

The former CM aide said a number of fundamental structural initiatives were taken during the two years of his term in office, especially on net hydel profit, gas cost, and hydropower supply to the industrial sector under wheeling regime.

Ziaullah Bangash, in his resignation letter, noted that he was quitting his position due to some unavoidable situation and some other constituency problems.

“I have a lot of responsibilities in the constituency and I want to focus on them,” he said.

Mr Bangash was given the charge of the science and information technology in a cabinet reshuffle earlier in January last year and before that he was heading the elementary and secondary education department.

In resignation letter, Ghazi Ghazan Jamal said that he was unable to continue as the special assistant to the chief minister due to the ‘circumstances beyond my control’.

Hailing from Orakzai agency, Mr Jamal was elected as an independent member to the provincial assembly and joined the PTI afterward. He was made the special assistant to the chief minister on excise and taxation department in Jan last year.

Spokesman for the government Kamran Khan Bangash told Dawn that the cabinet reshuffle was likely soon.

He said that the government would assign portfolios to the four newly-inducted ministers soon.

The spokesman, however, said that the portfolios of those ministers had yet to be decided.

Mr Bangash said that the cabinet size has no expanded beyond the constitutional limits after the induction of four ministries, as they would replace four ministries, who had left the cabinet earlier.

Irrigation minister Liaqat Khattak and law minister Sultan Mohammad Khan resigned from their respective offices recently.

Currently, the provincial cabinet comprises 12 ministers, while there are three parliamentary secretaries, and an adviser and nine special assistants to the chief minister.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2021