PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday namedJustice (r) Dost Muhammad Khan for the post of caretaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwachief minister.

Addressing a press conference following a consultative meeting outside ECPoffice in Islamabad, ECP Additional Secretary Dr Akhtar Nazeer said thatthe KP government and opposition had sent the commission four names to beconsidered for the post.

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) had proposed Justice Khan’s namealong with businessman Manzoor Afridi, whereas PTI had suggested the namesof two bureaucrats Ijaz Qureshi and Hamayatullah Khan.

The matter to finalise the name for the interim slot was forwarded tothe electoral watchdog after a parliamentary committee constituted byformer KP Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser, comprising Shah Farman, Atif Khanand Mehmood Khan from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Noor Saleem Khan,Mehmood Khan Betani and Mufti Fazal Ghafoor of the JUI-F representing theopposition, failed to reach consensus on the issue.

The opposition and government resorted to forming the committeefollowing consistent disagreements between them. Although the KP governmentcompleted its five-year tenure on May 28 and the provincial law departmentissued a notification dissolving the assembly, the name of caretaker chiefminister remained in limbo after PTI’s withdrawal of Manzoor Afridi’snomination for the interim slot.

The PTI had agreed on the name of Manzoor Afridi for the caretaker chiefminister and the party even released an official handout and a picture ofAfridi with party chairman Imran Khan at his Banigala residence.

However, within 24 hours, the PTI reversed its decision and withdrew thename of Afridi. The opposition parties in the KP Assembly had alleged thatthen chief minister Pervez Khattak and the JUI-F leaders had received hugeamounts from Manzoor Afridi for his nomination as the chief minister.