Ajmal Wazir, Adviser to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister on Information, has been removed from his post. A notification from the provincial government confirmed on Saturday. As PTI sacks Ajmal Wazir, there are reports that the adviser was taking a commission and misusing his position.
Advisor to CM KP on information Ajmal Wazir Khan removed from the post on the allegations of commission as allegedly a recording in which he was talking about it was leaked. Inquiry ordered. Ajmal Wazir although denies the allegations. Kamran Bangash has replaced him.
— Shiffa Z. Yousafzai (@Shiffa_ZY) July 11, 2020
As PTI sacks Ajmal Wazir, Kamran Khan Bangash has been given the additional charge of the portfolio of Information and Public Relations in addition to his office of special assistant to the chief minister on Local Government, Elections and Rural Development.
Earlier, some news reports claimed that Wazir was resigning from his post due to personal reasons. “I am unable to dispense my duties as the information adviser, therefor I am resigning from my post,” Wazir had said. He also said that he had already sent his resignation to Chief Minister Mahmood Khan.
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Another notification said Wazir was removed from his post over allegations of accepting a commission in a leaked audio recording. An inquiry into the allegations into the leaked audiotape has been ordered by the KP chief minister.
THREAD : Ajmal Wazir alleged scandal : Recording is of first week of June 2020. The people heard are Mr. Ajmal Wazir, Adviser to CM KP on Information and Mr. Saqib Butt, CEO/Owner of M/S Admax.
The conversation is about Saqib explaining to Ajmal that the 12% of a commission…— Gharidah Farooqi (T.I.) (@GFarooqi) July 11, 2020
“Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has desired to process a case for a fact-finding inquiry into the recently surfaced audiotape of Ajmal Khan Wazir, former advisor to the chief minister for information and public relation,” the notification read.
Wazir was appointed as the adviser to the chief minister for information earlier this year. Wazir, who belongs to Shakai valley in South Waziristan, had joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf just before the July 2018 general election. He was earlier a member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid and had remained its central vice-president.
According to Mohammad Malick, a prominent TV anchor and commentator, CM KPK personally shared the leaked audio call with the prime minister to get his nod in order to remove Wazir from the post.
According to an immensely reliable source CM KPK personally shared alleged audio of Ajmal Wazir with PM IK and got his nod for sacking wazir, not that he had ever wanted him there in the first place. Allegedly talk is about ‘share’ from media advertisement placements. Tsk tsk
— Mohammad Malick (@MalickViews) July 11, 2020
As PTI sacks Ajmal Wazir, sources also claim that Wazir is alleged to have given hefty ads to the newspaper run by him and his brother worth Rs30 million using his position. Also demanded commission from another news agency.
Notably, in 2014, PTI’s govt in KP sacked its Minister for Industries Shaukat Yousafzai and advisor to the chief minister on transport Yasin Khalil. A statement issued by the Information Department said that the minister and the advisor’s performance was unsatisfactory which was why they were sacked.
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Sources said that the two had been removed by the government on corruption charges and allegations of misappropriation. Shaukat Yousafzai was earlier removed as a health minister and was made minister industries in what the PTI said was due to structural changes.