Taimur Jhagra given KP health portfolio as additional charge

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, reportedly on the directive of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership, on Wednesday assigned the important health portfolio to provincial finance minister Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra.

It triggered speculations that differences between the chief minister and two former ministers, Mohammad Atif Khan and Shahram Khan Tarakai, have not been resolved yet.

As per an official notification, Taimur Jhagra has been assigned the health portfolio, which was held by Shahram Tarakai before he was sacked, as an additional charge. This correspondent spoke to some senior PTI leaders, but none was able to explain whether it would be a temporary arrangement or Taimur Jhagra would continue as a regular health minister.

Recently there were speculations that the prime minister had agreed to restore the three sacked ministers after some time. The portfolios of the two other sacked ministers, Atif Khan being minister of tourism, sports and culture and Shakeel Ahmad minister for revenue & estate, were not assigned to anyone.

Taimur Jhagra is believed to be in good books of the party leadership. He is an engineer by profession and joined PTI in 2018. He contested election for the first time in 2018 and got elected as member of provincial assembly from KP-73 Peshawar.

He is the son of retired bureaucrat, Saleem Khan Jhagra, and grandson of late president of Pakistan Ghulam Ishaq Khan. Prime Minister Imran Khan had recently sacked Shahram Tarakai, Atif Khan and Shakeel Ahmad on charges of plotting against the PTI government in KP. Shahram Tarakai and Atif Khan are relatives, belonging to Swabi and Mardan, respectively. Shakeel Ahmad belongs to Malakand district.

Both Shahram Tarakai and Atif Khan appeared on TV channels after their removal to explain their position but remained quite careful and avoided directly targeting or maligning the party leader for their shocking expulsion from the cabinet.

Imran Khan was abroad and had reportedly issued removal orders of the three ministers from there when he was told about the alleged negative role of the ministers against the government. The sacked ministers denied their role in any plot against the government. They claimed the prime minister was provided “one-sided and concocted” report to create mistrust about them. Imran Khan then called Shahram Tarakai and Atif Khan to a meeting in Islamabad where they explained their position. People close to them claimed after the meeting that the prime minister got convinced after their clarification and asked them to continue their work in the party. They also claimed that it was decided that they would be restored to their previous positions. The third sacked minister Shakeel Ahmad wasn’t invited to meet the prime minister.

“After the meeting, we expected that they would be restored to their previous positions. But the chief minister later met Imran Khan and it seemed they decided to keep them away from the cabinet for some time,” said a party insider. Pleading anonymity, he said Mahmood Khan took a sigh of relief after getting rid of Shahram Tarakai and Atif Khan as they were the only people in the cabinet who could dare to speak in front of him and oppose wrong decisions.

“I learnt that Khan sahib (Imran Khan), on the advice of Mahmood Khan, decided to keep them out of the cabinet for some time as punishment for publicly maligning the party. They would be restored but I am not sure whether it will be acceptable to Shahram and Atif,” said the PTI leader who is privy to the developments in Islamabad.

Another senior PTI leader in Islamabad told The News that the prime minister had a soft corner for Shahram Tarakai and Atif Khan and had showed willingness to restore them, but he has to contend with the strong opposition of the chief minister and a federal minister.

“An Islamabad-based federal minister from KP had played a key role in getting the ministers sacked. He and the chief minister took a strong stance and requested the PM not to restore them,” said a PTI leader. Shahram Tarakai and Atif Khan had long association with Imran Khan and had never imagined that he would sack them in this manner. They and some other party legislators were reportedly critical of Mahmood Khan during cabinet and party meetings for his alleged poor performance and growing corruption in the government that damaged PTI’s image in the public. According to senior PTI leaders, Imran Khan and other people in the party were aware of the poor performance of the KP government but they objected to the way the former cabinet members handled the issue.