LAHORE / PESHAWAR, May 15: The process of forming a coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa entered the final stage on Wednesday with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and its likely partners reaching an agreement over distribution of portfolios.

The PTI, the party which secured the largest number of seats in the province, has offered three portfolios each to the Jamaat-i-Islami, Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) of Aftab Sherpao and the independent group from Swabi in the coalition government.

This was stated by JI chief Syed Munawar Hassan while talking to reporters outside the Shaukat Khanum Hospital, where he had come to inquire after the health of Imran Khan.

“The JI will get the portfolios of finance, education and Zakat,” Mr Hassan said after meeting the PTI leader.

The PTI has won 35 seats in the 99-member (directly elected) KP Assembly whereas the JI and the QWP have secured seven seats each.

TV channels reported late in the evening that the PTI had selected Pervez Khattak for the post of chief minister.

Meanwhile, according to our reporter in Peshawar, eight independent members elected to the KP Assembly have formed a joint parliamentary group and said they are ready to hold talks with the major parties, including the PTI, for government formation.

Addressing a press conference at the MPAs’ Hostel on Wednesday night, they said they had formed the group, the United Front, for protecting their rights in the assembly.

They said Israrullah Gandapur would be their leader who had been authorised to hold talks with the parties.

Besides Mr Gandapur, the group comprises Malik Qasim, Malik Shah Mohammad Wazir, Abdul Munim, Qalandar Lodhi, Amjid Khan Afridi, Jawed Akber Khan and Fareed Khan. They said they also had the support of another MPA-elect, Samiullah Alizai, who could not attend the press conference because of an emergency.

Mr Gandapur said the members of the group would not hold negotiations individually with any party.

He said the major parties, including the PTI, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) and Pakistan Muslim League-N, had separately contacted members of the group, but they had decided to take a collective decision.