PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Thursday removed Fazal Hakeem Khan as provincial minister for climate change and environment and assigned him the portfolio of livestock after a barrage of social media criticism over deforestation in the province.

A notification issued by the administration department stated, “[…] in exercise of powers conferred by the sub-rule 1 of Rule 3 of KP Government Rules of Business 1985, the KP chief minister was pleased to assign the portfolio of livestock, fisheries and cooperatives department to Fazal Hakeem Khan Yousafzai by relieving him from the portfolio of climate change, forestry, environment and wildlife department with immediate effect”.

Sources told Dawn that Mr Hakeem’s portfolio was changed after some videos of deforestation and widespread logging were widely circulated on social media platforms.

On the other hand, a ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf insider told Dawn that Mr Hakeem himself had requested to change his portfolio due to the criticism of his ministry. He said Mr Hakeem had recently met KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and asked him to relieve him from the ministry. The source said that Mr Gandapur accepted his request and changed his portfolio.

Mr Hakeem had also made several gaffes in a recent TV interview with a Pashto language channel. Clips of the gaffes about his understanding of climate change and other environment-related issues had gone viral on social media platforms, attracting widespread criticism from the general public and climate activists.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2024