Gandapur resigns as KP chief minister

Ali Amin Khan Gandapur on Wednesday stepped down as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister.

“The position of the Chief Minister was the trust of Imran Khan, and as per his order, I am returning his trust to him and resigning,” Gandapur wrote on his official Facebook page.

The decision comes soon after PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja informed the media about founding chairman Imran Khan’s decision to replace Gandapur with MPA Sohail Afridi.

“It is true that Ali Amin Gandapur is being removed from the chief ministership. Sohail Afridi has been nominated as the new chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he told reporters.

Salman Akram Raja noted that it was Imran Khan’s decision. He added that the PTI founder had shared with him “the detailed background of the matter” and instructed him to present it before the media.

Commenting on the security situation in PTI-ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Raja said: “The province is facing the worst wave of terrorism. This year has seen record incidents, with lives lost and martyrdoms at an unprecedented level.”

He quoted Khan as saying that the Orakzai incident had left him deeply saddened, and that “there is no option left now except to make a change in the KP chief ministership.”

In response, Gandapur said he had not received any official instructions from the party’s founder. “The decisions will be conveyed after the party leaders meet with the PTI founder in jail. I have not yet received any official instructions,” he said.

“The position of chief minister is a trust of the party, and I will step down whenever the leadership asks me to,” Gandapur added.

Meanwhile, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan issued a clarification after some media reports attributed statements to him about Gandapur’s possible removal.

“This [is] to clarify that I have not made any statement to the media about Ali Amin Gandapur. I have not spoken to any media outlet that ‘news about change of CM KP is fake or is a conspiracy against the party’,” Gohar wrote on X.

The reports of Gandapur’s ouster come amid months of internal rifts within PTI, particularly between Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan and the sitting chief minister. Party insiders say the leadership has grown increasingly concerned over the feud, which they believe has weakened party discipline and created friction within KP’s provincial setup.

Who is Sohail Afridi – the next KP CM?

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has nominated Sohail Afridi, a first-time MPA from Khyber district, to replace Ali Amin Gandapur as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief minister.

Afridi, elected from PK-70, is a member of PTI’s central executive committee and previously led the party’s student wing, the Insaf Students Federation (ISF), in KP.

In the current setup, he first served as Special Assistant to the CM for Communication and Works, before being appointed Minister for Higher Education. Known for his long association with PTI’s student and youth wings, Afridi has gradually risen through the party ranks.

Confirming the development in Rawalpindi, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said the party was making “a fresh start” and that the assembly would elect Afridi as the new chief minister once Gandapur steps down.