Three ministers sacked from KP cabinet

Three ministers of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government were removed from their portfolios, a notification issued by the provincial administration cabinet wing revealed on Sunday.

The sacked ministers include Muhammad Atif Khan, who was the minister for sports, culture and tourism, Shahram Khan Tarakai, who was the minister for health and Shakeel Ahmed, who held the portfolio of revenue and estate.

The move comes just two days after local media was rife with reports of a pressure group emerging in the province, allegedly led by sports and tourism minister Atif Khan – who was also a strong candidate for the post of chief minister after elections in July 2018.

According to a Dawn report published on Saturday, Atif Khan threw a lavish dinner for provincial lawmakers on Friday night apparently to muster support to take on Chief Minister Mahmood Khan amid reports of an intensifying jockeying for power between the two.

The event took place a day after an alleged showdown between Atif Khan and the chief minister in a provincial cabinet meeting, which the government was quick to deny. Sources said around 25 MPAs were invited to the dinner at the senior minister’s

Hayatabad residence.

On Thursday even after the provincial government denied the cabinet showdown reports, Mohammad Ali Tarakai, an uncle of health minister Shahram Khan Tarakai, who is considered to be a close aide of Atif Khan, ended up at a DawnNews talk show, Newseye, and vented his spleen against his own party’s provincial government, giving credence to speculations of a turf war in the ruling PTI. The elder Tarakai even hinted at leaving the setup.

Sources further said that the reason for the rift between Chief Minister Mahmood Khan and Atif Khan was the rejection of the latter's nominees in the recent cabinet reshuffle.