PESHAWAR – Justice (retd) Arshad Hussain Shah on Sunday took oath as the caretaker chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Haji Ghulam Ali administered the oath at a ceremony in the provincial capital.
The CM office fell vacant after the sad demise of Azam Khan and as such the cabinet stood dissolved last day. Azam Khan served as the caretaker CM for more than nine months.
KP Governor Haji Ghulam Ali managed the affairs and started procedure for appointing a new caretaker CM.
He wrote to former CM Mahmood Khan and opposition leader Akram Khan Durrani for consultation under Article 224 (1A) of the Constitution for the appointment of caretaker CM.
After the meeting, both developed a consensus and a summary was forwarded to the governor who later approved it.
Justice (retd) Arshad Hussain Shah has previously served as the chief justice of the Supreme Appellate Court Gilgit-Baltistan and was the law minister in the deceased CM’s interim cabinet.
As per media reports, the new caretaker CM will restore the entire cabinet of his predecessor Azam Khan.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced to approach the courts against the interim CM’s appointment.
PTI leader Zahir Shah Toru said that the appointment of the interim CM by Mahmood Khan and Akram Durrani was unacceptable as they were not the current CM and opposition leader.
The process of appointing a new caretaker CM had raised questions as it was the first such incident.
