ISLAMABAD: Barrister Ali Zafar, a top PTI leader and legal expert, revealed that Ali Amin Gandapur got the boot as Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa because he didn’t do what the party founder told him to do.
This he said during a talk show on a private news channel. Barrister Zafar said the call to axe Gandapur came straight from the PTI founder because he wasn’t following instructions.
He let o that Sohail Afridi’s pick as the new CM wasn’t a big talk inside the party. Though he made it clear that Afridi is free to take the job.
PTI isn’t a one-man show, Zafar insisted. What the founder wants will become reality.
Barrister Zafar went on to say that senior party folks will be in Sohail Afridi’s group, and he is sure that PTI has enough votes in the assembly to make Afridi the next Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
All this is coming as everyone gossips about politics and the party argues, with some leaders, like Nadeem Afzal Chan, saying Sohail Afridi has little shot at becoming CM.
ALSO READ: Gandapur’s tenure among the shortest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa history
But Barrister Zafar stuck to the party line, saying the change in leadership is done and matches what the founder wants.
Meanwhile, Barrister Aqeel Malik, Minister of State for Law and Justice, claimed that there is a legal bottleneck in the way of the PTI’s Sohail Afridi to the KP Chief Minister’s office.
The removal of sitting KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur was also affirmed on Wednesday by PTI Secretary-General Salman Akram Raja while announcing the party’s nominee for the new Chief Minister as Sohail Afridi.
Sohail Afridi had previously been the Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Communication and Works and, after cabinet reshuffling in the provincial government, he was recently promoted as Minister for Higher Education.
While talking to a private news channel, Barrister Aqeel Malik said that Sohail Afridi had received a notice from the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) for promoting his assembly speech on social media. He implied that the legal issue cited by the notice could hinder Afridi’s appointment as Chief Minister.
On the same show, though, PTI leader and legal expert Senator Ali Zafar declared the whole incident to be fictitious.
Senator Zafar pointed out that one cannot take legal action against a member of an assembly for just reporting his assembly speech because these speeches have constitutional immunity.
He continued to say that there is nothing in the constitution or law that prohibits Sohail Afridi from becoming the Chief Minister, and indeed, he could be sworn in as such without any impediments.
