Peshawar: Justice (retd.) Arshad Hussain was on Sunday sworn in as the interim chief minister of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a day after caretaker chief minister Muhammad Azam Khan died following a brief illness.
Governor Haji Ghulam Ali administered oath to Hussain at a ceremony in Peshawar.
Hussain, who was appointed as the law minister in the interim provincial cabinet earlier this year, has served as the chief justice of the Supreme Appellate Court of Gilgit Baltistan.
Earlier, his name was finalised for the post at a meeting here called by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Ali.
Ali invited the leader of the house, former chief minister Mehmud Khan, and the ex-leader of Opposition of the dissolved assembly Akram Khan Durrani to seek a consensus candidate for the caretaker chief minister.
The meeting agreed on Hussain’s name, which was proposed by Durrani and supported by Khan. The name was subsequently sent to the KP governor, who approved it.
The post fell vacant after the interim chief minister died on Saturday due to a heart problem at a local hospital here.
The provincial assemblies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab were dissolved in January this year by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan to pressurise the then federal government for early general elections. The general elections will be held on February 8, 2024, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan.
The development comes as Pakistan aims to hold fair and transparent general elections early next year.
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