PESHAWAR, Nov 11 (APP): Caretaker Chief Minister (CM) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Muhammad Azam Khan died apparently due to cardiac arrest at a local hospital here Saturday.
According to doctors and his family sources, Azam Khan was brought to a local hospital in Peshawar the other day after feeling severe pain in his chest and expired during the treatment process at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
The funeral prayer of Azam Khan will be offered at Prang in Charsadda district at 3:30 p.m. today and will be laid to rest in his native town.
He took the oath as interim CM of KP on January 21 of this year, following the dissolution of the KP Assembly in the same month by the then Chief Minister Mahmood Khan.
He was nominated to lead the province by the opposition parties, and his name was unanimously approved by the outgoing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government as well.
Azam Khan was a retired bureaucrat and Pakistan Administrative Officer who served in various key positions.
He had served as minister of interior, capital administration, and development in the interim cabinet of former caretaker prime minister Nasir-ul-Mulk in 2018.
He was highly qualified and was a barrister-at-law from Lincoln’s Inn, London.
From October 2007 to April 2008, Azam Khan served as a finance, planning, and development minister in KP in the cabinet of CM Shamsul Mulk.
He also served in key posts in both the federal and provincial governments and earned the reputation of being a highly competent and honest bureaucrat.
From September 1990 to July 1993, Azam Khan also served as the Chief Secretary (CS) of KP.
He was also chairman of the Pakistan Tobacco Board.
“The provincial cabinet has been dissolved after the death of the KP chief minister, and all the powers have been transferred to KP Governor Ghulam Ali,” Former secretary of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Kanwar Dilshad told the media.
The politicians and civil society have condoled the death of Azam Khan and prayed for his eternal peace.