Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Monday strongly criticized the expansion of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) cabinet, alleging that there was no governance in the province with rampant corruption and financial mismanagement in the administration.
The KP Cabinet was expanded last week with the addition of six new ministers, four new advisors and eight special assistants, bringing the total strength of the provincial cabinet to 31 members.
With the expansion, the number of ministers, including Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, increased to 17, while the number of advisors remained at six. This exceeded the constitutional limit established in article 130 of the Constitution, which limits the number of ministers to 15 and advisors to five.
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He also questioned the expansion of the provincial cabinet, suggesting that the appointment of ministers and advisors was based solely on political loyalty. “Apart from incompetence, there is no other criterion for selecting these ministers and advisors,” he said.
He also criticized the government’s record over the last 12 years. “Provincial affairs have never been so poor,” Tarar added.
خیبر پختونخوا میں گورننس نام کی چیز نہیں۔ کرپشن اور بد عنوانی عروج پر ہیں۔ شاہانہ اخراجات عوامی پیسہ خرچ کیا جا رہا ہے۔ اِن وزراء اور مشیران کے انتخاب کا اور معیار نہیں۔ تعداد بڑھانے…
– Attaullah Tarar (@TararAttaullah) May 18, 2026
The summary of the expansion, approved by Afridi, was sent on Friday to the provincial governor, Faisal Karim Kundi. The governor signed and returned the summary, clearing the way for the new members to be sworn in today at the Governor’s House.
The decision came almost seven months after Afridi took office. Following the resignation of former prime minister Ali Amin Gandapur in October last year, Afridi was elected the new leader of the house.
He initially formed a slim 14-member cabinet after failing to secure a meeting with the party’s founding president for broader consultations. He had planned to expand the cabinet later after consultations, but the meeting could not materialise.
The party leadership and pressure from members of the Provincial Assembly finally forced the prime minister to opt for expansion.
Differences within the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) emerged soon after the expansion, with several party leaders and legislators expressing deep discontent at being ignored.
Sources said the decision was taken after consultations with the party’s founding president, although the meeting with the president did not materialize before the announcement.
The announcement sparked an immediate reaction from party members who felt marginalized. Notably, the cabinet largely avoided including unelected figures, with only Muzzammil Aslam reportedly doing so as an exception.
The cabinet expansion has highlighted the growing regional and factional fissures within the PTI in KP.
