PESHAWAR: Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Faisal Karim Kundi on Saturday took oath as Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Chief Justice Peshawar High Court (PHC) Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim administered the oath to Faisal Karim Kundi in a ceremony held at Governor House.

PPP stalwart Faisal Karim Kundi had served as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly from 2008 to 2013. He was also an Adviser to the Prime Minister in the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government.

After taking oath, the newly sworn-in Governor KP expressed gratitude to the party leadership for posing trust in him. “Every effort will be made to build a bridge between the province and the centre,” Faisal Karim Kundi added. He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is facing various issues, vowing to put the province on path of the prosperity and development.

Earlier in the day, President Asif Ali Zardari accorded his approval to the appointment of governors for Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces. Following the approval, Sardar Slaeem Haider Khan has been appointed as Governor Punjab, Faisal Karim Kundi as Governor KP and Jaffar Khan Mandokhail as Governor Balochistan.

The president approved the appointments based on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s advice in accordance with Article 101 (1) of the Constitution, said a statement issued by President Secretariat.

The development came a day after PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari named two senior party leaders — Sardar Saleem Haider Khan and Faisal Karim Kundi — for the posts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab governors as part of the deal reached with PML-N before joining the coalition government.