ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: It is often said that there is no permanent friend or foe in politics and it seems to be true in case of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Qoumi Watan Party (QWP), whose relation once reached to the point of no return, but now the later is all-set to join the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) coalition government once again.
Sources told this scribe that the oath-taking ceremony of QWP ministers was scheduled to take place on October 12 (Monday), for which all arrangements had been given finishing touches, but was postponed due to the illness of KP Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan.
Sources said that under the agreement, the QWP would be given two ministerial slots for which one of PTI ministers from Hazara will give up his seat and make him an advisor to make room for the QWP in the cabinet, as after the 18th Constitutional Amendment, it is against the law to have more than 14 members in the cabinet.
Under the agreement, the QWP ministers would be given the portfolios of Irrigation, Labour, Manpower and Industries and Mines and Mineral Development; besides the party would also get two special assistants to the chief ministers.
The QWP’s parliamentary party leader Sikandar Hayat Sherpao would take oath as senior minister with his previous portfolios of irrigation and power, while Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli will be given the portfolio of Mines and Mineral department, Labour and Manpower and Technical Education.
They said that PTI leadership conveyed to two of its ministers from Hazara district i.e., Minister for Higher Education and Information Mushtaq Ghani and Minister for Food Qalanadar Lodhi to take the decision by themselves as to who will volunteer to vacate the seat for QWP’s minister or else the matter to be decided through a toss.
They further said that PTI could not deprive its coalition partners the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan (AJIP) from ministerial slots that is why it will have to drop one of its ministers to accommodate the new alliance.
When contacted, QWP’s Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli confirmed that QWP’s ministers were all-set to take oath by October 12, but the sudden illness of KP governor caused the delay, as he has to administer the oath.
She said that PTI and QWP have hammered out all the modalities and nothing was left but just they have to take oath of their portfolios. Aneesa Zeb said that she prayed to Allah Almighty for his speedy recovery so as the process be completed sans further delay.
It is pertinent to mention here that a power-sharing formula between PTI and QWP was signed in Islamabad on September 29, 2015, under which the latter will join the KP coalition government. Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, PTI General Secretary Jahangir Tareen, parliamentary leaders of QWP, Sikandar Hayat Sherpao and Aneesa Zeb Tahirkheli, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective parties under which both the parties agreed to cooperate with each other in the larger interest of the people of the province.
