PESHAWAR: The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf came under fire in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday for its failure to form the provincial cabinet, with the opposition members saying the province is heading towards a “serious constitutional problem”.

The assembly, which met with Mohammad Idrees from the panel of chairman in the chair, was informed that for the first time in its history, the province didn’t have a cabinet.

“The province is heading towards a serious constitutional problem as its government has been functioning without the cabinet for the last two weeks,” MPA of the opposition PML-N Faiza Malik said while participating in a debate on the law and order situation and recent floods in the province.

She said the new chief minister’s failure to form the cabinet was an “attack on the constitutional framework” as under the Constitution, a government was not complete without having a cabinet.

Opposition fears ‘serious constitutional problem’ in province

“In Mustafa Impex Case judgement, the Supreme Court declared that a single person cannot exercise the government’s powers in the absence of the cabinet. The Constitution has linked all departmental and policy decisions to the cabinet’s approval otherwise they don’t have any legal standing,” she said.

The opposition lawmaker said that any further delay in the cabinet’s formation would be tantamount to inviting the country’s president to exercise the power granted under Article 234 of the Constitution to grant the province’s administrative powers to the centre.

She demanded of the chief minister to at least form a small cabinet comprising 5-7 ministers to run the affairs of the province.

Ms Malik also urged the PTI’s provincial leadership to take decisions by itself, wondering how long it will pursue politics centered on a personality.

MPA Afshan Hussain said that the house’s debate on people’s issues had no impact as there was no minister to respond to questions.

She complained the new chief minister had failed to form his cabinet for the last 16 days, leaving no one to update lawmakers about the affairs of the education, health and other departments.

Opposition MPA Shahjehan said that the absence of the cabinet had brought the province’s affairs to a standstill.

He said the province had long been facing multiple serious issues including the delicate law and order situation, flour shortage and high prices of essential goods, but the ruling party wasn’t taking them seriously.

Parliamentary leader of the opposition PPP Ahmad Karim Kundi said that people’s problems stood unresolved, so the house had become irrelevant in the eyes of the people. He said lawmakers had failed to satisfy people through resolution of their issues.

“If the chief minister is not allowed to meet his jailed leader, then who stopped this government from strengthening the local government system, controlling flour prices and providing clean drinking water to people,” he said.

Mr Kundi urged the ruling PTI to do away with confrontational politics, which, he said, would harm the province and its people.

During the sitting, lawmakers from Swat and Buner districts demanded of the government to increase compensation payment for the damage caused by the recent floods.

MPA Fazal Hakeem from Swat and MPA Gurpal Singh from Buner said Rs300,000 compensation for a destroyed house and Rs100,000 for destroyed shops was a meagre amount compared to the destruction.

The chair adjourned the session until next Monday.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2025