Imran Khan orders removal of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister

Ali Amin Gandapur, the chief minister of Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has been removed from office with immediate effect, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Salman Akram Raja confirmed on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, Raja said PTI founder Imran Khan ordered Gandapur to resign as chief minister and directed that Sohail Afridi, a lawmaker from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, be appointed as his replacement.

Raja said Khan was deeply saddened by the deteriorating security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, particularly after the recent Orakzai attack, which left several soldiers dead. He said Khan blamed the federal government’s “flawed counterterrorism policy” for the surge in militant violence across the province.

“Imran Khan has long maintained that the KP government must distance itself from the federal approach and implement its own strategy to tackle terrorism,” Raja said.

According to Raja, Khan believes that the tribal communities of the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the Afghan government, and the Afghan people must be included in efforts to find a lasting solution.

“The state made a grave mistake by expelling people instead of engaging them,” Raja said. “We never recognized the Taliban government. When Bilawal was foreign minister for one and a half years, he never went there,” he added, referring to Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Raja said Khan was disappointed that the KP government failed to implement his security vision. “The only way to end terrorism is to confront the issue directly,” he said, calling Afridi’s appointment “a new beginning.”

Khan has reportedly directed Afridi to convey Pakhtun traditions to the federal government and work toward a political solution to the region’s instability.

Addressing allegations that Afridi is sympathetic to the Taliban, Raja said more than 21 military operations had been carried out in the region with little success. “This problem can only be solved collectively as a nation by respecting local culture and traditions,” he added.

Raja said a perception had emerged that the KP government was enabling flawed federal policies, but that would now change. He clarified that Gandapur’s removal was not linked to his recent dispute with Aleema Khan, Imran Khan’s sister. “Imran Khan has expressed good wishes for Ali Amin,” he said.

“We have to make a fresh start in KP,” Raja concluded.

Earlier, Advocate Rai Salman Kharal, counsel for Bushra Imran, confirmed to Nukta outside Adiala Jail that Khan had ordered Gandapur’s removal and instructed the appointment of Sohail Afridi as the new chief minister.

Reacting to the decision, Ali Amin Gandapur said he accepted Imran Khan’s orders with respect. “The position of chief minister was a trust entrusted to me by Imran Khan,” Gandapur said in a statement. “In accordance with his instructions, I am returning that trust to him by resigning from my post.”