Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf's (PTI) Pervez Khan Khattak took oath as the 26th Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at a ceremony held here at the Governor's House on Friday evening. KP Governor Engineer Shaukatullah Khan administered the oath to Khattak. The ceremony was attended by senior leaders of PTI, Jamaat-i-Islami, Aftab Sherpao's Qaumi Watan Party and senior bureaucrats.
Meanwhile, Siraj-ul-Haq of JI and Sikandar Hayat Sherpao of QWP also took oath as senior ministers during the ceremony. Earlier, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf's (PTI) Pervez Khan Khattak was elected as the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after he secured majority of the votes, here on Friday.
The third special session of the KP Assembly, chaired by Speaker Asad Qaiser, started at 11:00 am with a delay of one and half hour. Soon after recitation from the Holy Quran, the Speaker made announcement about division of the House for holding voting for election of Leader of the House. The election was carried out in main hall of the Assembly. The legislators who supported PTI's Pervez Khattak went to Lobby-I, while members supporting JUI-F's Maulana Lutfur Rahman went to lobby-II.
Later, the Speaker formally announced the election results and congratulated the House for holding election process in a dignified manner.
A minute before the start of the election process, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidature for the chief minister's slot, Waji-uz-Zaman, withdrew his nomination paper, after which the contest was held between PTI's and JI's candidates. PPPP and a lone candidate of All Pakistan Muslim League, Ghulam Mohammad from PK-80 Chitral, also supported the PTI candidate.
Pervez Khattak secured 84 votes, while his opponent Maulana Lutfur Rahman got 37 votes in the total 122-member House. Earlier, it was planned that the election of chief minister would be held through secret balloting as per rules of the legislative assembly, but later it was carried out by division of the House.
The provincial legislators of QWP, JI, PPPP, APML and Awami Jamhori Itehad supported the PTI candidature. Speaking on the floor of the House, PML-N parliamentary leader, Sardar Mehtab Abbasi congratulated Pervez Khattak on his election as the Chief Minister. He said that smooth transition of power from one civilian government to another was a historic day in the country's parliamentary history.
He said that now it was duty of the elected people to deliver and fulfil their commitments made to the people. He urged upon the government to take effective steps to overcome key challenges facing the country. Abbasi said that ensuring good governance would be a key to eliminate corruption, which had weakened the foundation of the country's institutions.
Sardar Hussain Babak of ANP assured the newly elected Chief Minister that the opposition would play its positive role, and would support efforts for establishment of peace, improvement of literacy rate and addressing other key issues. Maulana Lutfur Rahman said that peace could not be restored without ending US drones strikes in the tribal region. He regretted that his party had initiated a negotiation process with Taliban leadership, but the efforts were ruined after recent US drone attack. He asked the KP and federal governments to take a firm stance and devise a joint strategy to get drone strikes stopped.
Sirajul Haq of JI said that the masses had great expectations from the newly elected government and that the government would not disappoint them. He called upon the incoming PML-N government to take all parties on board and come up with a joint strategy for establishment of peace and stability in the country. Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao of QWP said that government was committed to taking effective steps for resolution of all issues. "Peace, energy shortages, unemployment and economic stagnation are key challenges, which can only be addressed through consensus," he added. He further said that "we will not tolerate do more policy at any cost and would strongly oppose any such step which is against the people of this country."
Speaking on the occasion, Saleem Khan of PPP expressed the hope that the newly elected PTI-led government would fully deliver and take speed steps to address key issues.
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