Imran nominates Mehmood Khan for KP chief minister

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has nominated Mehmood Khan as chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the party confirmed on its official Twitter handle Wednesday.

The former provincial minister of sports, culture and tourism, Mahmood Khan’s stock seems to be rising. Hailing from Swat, the 46-year-old served as a Nazim before being elected to the provincial assembly in 2013 on a PTI ticket. 

Thereafter, he was quickly inducted into the cabinet as the minister of sports, a position he had to relinquish due to charges of misusing discretionary funds.

While an inquiry report later exonerated the minister, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) had ordered for his removal. However, in 2016, he was brought back into the provincial cabinet as the minister for home and tribal affairs.

Last month, he won with over 25,000 votes from PK-9 in Swat.

Sources informed Geo News that the PTI chief personally preferred Atif Khan for the top provincial post.

However, Imran decided in favour of Mehmood in the face of strong opposition by former chief minister Pervez Khattak and others.