Daily Times

In a major development, one special assistant and two advisers to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan resigned from their offices on Saturday, a private TV channel reported.

The resignations of all three were accepted by Governor Shah Farman and a notification of the acceptance of the resignations was also issued by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

The three officials to step down are Advisor on Science & Technology and Information Technology Zia Ullah Khan Bangash, Advisor on Energy and Power Himayatullah Khan and Special Assistant on Excise and Taxation Syed Ghazi Ghazan Jamal.

In a handwritten resignation letter addressed to the provincial chief minister, Bangash – a longtime PTI activist – said that he was stepping down from the post 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.

Jamal, on the other hand, said, “Over the past one year, I have endeavoured to reform and improve the department and worked diligently to realise the goals set by your leadership. Due to circumstance beyond my control, I am unable to continue as a special assistant. I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity and, in my capacity as MPA Orakzai, I will continue to work on behalf of the people of my district.”

The development comes days after four new ministers were inducted into the provincial cabinet. Those who took oath included Atif Khan, Fazal Shakoor Khan, Shakeel Ahmed Khan and Faisal Amin Gandapur.

Atif Khan and Shakeel Khan were earlier sacked from the provincial cabinet, while Faisal Amin Gandapur, the brother of federal minister Ali Amin Gandapur, and Fazal Shakoor Khan were included in the cabinet for the first time.