PESHAWAR: The caretaker government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwaon Friday appointed four aides to the chief minister arousing controversy as one of the appointees, Jarrar Hussain Bukhari, is the son of central leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party Nayyar Hussain Bukhari.

It also de-notified minister Khushdil Khan Malik as he was inducted into the cabinet last month when he served as a federal government employee.

Of the new cabinet appointees, Mr Jarrar is the adviser to the chief minister on population welfare, Zafar Mahmood on culture, tourism, archaeology and museums, Rehmat Salam Khattak adviser on elementary and secondary education, and Dr Abid Jameel on health.

Mr Jarrar’s father Nayyar Hussain Bukhari is a former Senate chairman and a former senator from Islamabad. He currently serves as the central general secretary of the Pakistan Peoples Party, which is part of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration.

Minister Khushdil de-notified as he was government employee at time of induction into cabinet

A senior official told Dawn that Jarrar Hussain Bukhari hadn’t been a resident of KP until recently and had most probably changed his residential address in official documents from the federal capital to KP.

He said the Senate’s website showed the house of Mr Jarrar’s father to be located in the Bhara Kahu area of Islamabad.

The officials said the law didn’t bar the change of address, so anyone could change residential address in official documents anytime.

They said even if Mr Jarrar changed his address a day before his appointment to the caretaker cabinet, he had become a resident of KP.

The officials said some senators changed their residential addresses in the past to become members of the Upper House of Parliament.

The appointment of Rehmat Salam Khattak also attracted criticism ahead of the provincial assembly elections.

The critics said Mr Khattak remained an active member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz for a long time and even contested elections as its nominee, and that he recently joined the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, which was part of the current federal government.

Former provincial minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Kamran Bangash told Dawn that the caretaker cabinet should comprise impartial people so that elections could be conducted in a free and fair manner.

He said the caretaker chief minister had a “perfect record” but most of his cabinet members were affiliated with political parties, so such inductions would have a negative impact on his image.

“There should be no doubt that elections held under this cabinet with Jarrar Hussain, Rehmat Salam Khattak and many controversial people as its members will ultimately raise questions about election results,” he said.

Mr Bangash requested the Election Commission of Pakistan and superior judiciary to take note of the matter.

Meanwhile, KP Governor Ghulam Ali de-notified minister Khushdil Khan Malik on the advice of caretaker Chief Minister Mohammad Azam Khan.

Mr Malik became a member of the caretaker cabinet last month but was never given a portfolio. His appointment stirred up a controversy as he worked as a government employee the very day he was notified as the cabinet member.

On Jan 31, the KP administration department moved a summary to the caretaker chief minister seeking the de-notification of Mr Malik as the minister.

It insisted that Mr Malik worked as a school principal (BPS-20) in the Mangla cantonment area at the time of his appointment as the caretaker minister on Jan 26 and that he retired from government service just four days ago, Feb 14, after reaching the age of superannuation.

Mr Malik has already challenged the summary in the Peshawar High Court. He requested the court to declare the summary illegal and issue directives to the chief minister to assign him a portfolio.

On Thursday, a division bench of the high court consisting of Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Abdul Shakoor issued a notice to the provincial government seeking its response to the petition and fixed the next hearing for Feb 21.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2023