STAFF REPORTER PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Ali Amin Gandapur on Wednesday stepped down as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chief minister, hours after PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja confirmed Sohail Afridi as the new nominee for the post. Gandapur formally submitted his resignation to KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, saying the chief minister’s position was a trust placed in him by PTI founder Imran Khan. In a post on X, Gandapur — a firebrand PTI leader who also served as a federal minister during Khan’s premiership — said he was returning the trust in accordance with the instructions of party founder — who has been behind bars since August 2023. “In respectful compliance of the orders of my leader, and founding PTI chairman, Imran Khan, it is my honour to tender my resignation from the Office of the Chief Minister, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he wrote. The outgoing chief minister said that when he assumed charge as chief minister, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was grappling with “financial ruin and the menace of terrorism.” He said that with the support of his cabinet, party members, workers, and bureaucratic team, the provincial government restored financial stability and launched major nation-building projects in a province “militarily categorised as a warzone.” Expressing gratitude to his cabinet colleagues, lawmakers from both the ruling PTI and the opposition, and provincial officers, Gandapur said he faced “extraordinary challenges of governance” during his tenure. “I may not be able to claim with certainty that I did well on all those challenges,” he wrote, adding: “but I can say with utmost certainty that I served with absolute sincerity to the people of KP and always acted in the best interest of Pakistan.” Ahead of his announcement, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja had confirmed Gandapur’s removal, saying that the decision was made by the party’s founder. “It is correct that Ali Amin Gandapur is being removed from the office of chief minister,” Raja told journalists in Rawalpindi, adding that Afridi has been nominated as the new chief minister of KP. Expressing confidence in the new provincial leadership, he said: “We expect Sohail Afridi to guide and advise the federal government on these matters.”
