PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Thursday de-notified Akbar Ayub Khan as the minister for local government and rural development following his resignation.

The development comes more than a week after the sacking of a minister and an adviser to the chief minister.

A notification issued by the administration department read, “the governor KP in the exercise of powers conferred under Clause 3 of Article 132 of the Constitution read with Clause 1 of Article 105 thereof is pleased to de-notify Mr Akbar Ayub Khan, minister for LG&RD and human rights and parliamentary affairs portfolios. On de-notification from his respective office, he has ceased to hold the portfolio of the provincial minister with an immediate effect.”

In a statement issued here, spokesperson for the government Kamran Khan Bangash said Mr Ayub had resigned from his ministerial position and Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had accepted the resignation.

He cites health problems, constituency responsibilities as reason for cabinet exit

The statement also quoted Mr Ayub as saying that he is unable to perform his duties as the minister over health problems and constituency responsibilities.

He added that he was thankful to the chief minister for trusting him and that he would focus on his health and constituency in future.

Separately, the handwritten letter of resignation by the minister cited a recently diagnosed illness as the main reason for him taking a break from work to focus on his treatment and pending personal matters.

However, sources claimed that Mr Ayub was removed on the orders of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

They told Dawn that the LG minister was slated to be sacked along with social welfare minister Hisham Inamullah Khan and CM adviser on revenue Qalandar Khan Lodhi in July but was retained by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, who had a ‘soft corner’ for him.

The sources said the provincial government had no option but to remove Mr Ayub when the prime minister broached the subject yet again and asked why he was still in the cabinet despite his orders.

Another source said this time around, the provincial government wanted to avoid the situation, which had arisen after the removal of Mr Hisham and Mr Lodhi.

Mr Hisham had accused provincial governor Shah Farman and federal minister for Kashmir affairs Ali Amin Khan Gandapur of ‘stabbing him in the back’ following his departure from the provincial cabinet, while Mr Lodhi regretted the statement attributed to the government’s spokesperson about his removal over poor performance.

Speaking on the floor of the provincial assembly on July 30, Mr Lodhi said the remarks about poor performance had hurt the sentiments of his electorates. He insisted that his department’s performance was hailed in official documents on June 30 but all of sudden, the situation changed and his performance was declared poor, which was unfair.

Meanwhile, the provincial government, through another notification, gave the portfolio of parliamentary affairs and human rights to labour and culture minister Shaukat Ali Yousafzai.

Interestingly, Faisal Amin Khan, brother of federal minister for Kashmir affairs Ali Amin Gandapur, who had taken oath as the minister earlier in May this year, has yet to be assigned any portfolio.

Also, the cabinet slots vacated by Mr Hisham and Mr Lodhi have also not been assigned to anyone.

Mr Ayub was first made the minister for communication and works in the current cabinet but was later given the charge of the elementary and secondary education department. He was later made the minister for local government and rural development.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2021