Former bureaucrat and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Caretaker Chief Minister Azam Khan has passed away.

He was appointed as the interim chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He led the caretaker setup whose prime task apart from maintaining the law and order situation was to ensure transparent elections in the province.

Immediately, after his name was announced some people were confused the gentleman with his namesake, Azam Khan, who was the principal secretary (PS) to then-Prime Minister Imran Khan until early April 2022.

Imran Khan’s former PS — whose name was a buzz when Imran Khan’s PM House conversation was leaked in September 2022. — is still in service and has not retired. So, there is no question of him being appointed the caretaker chief minister.

The man who was appointed caretaker chief minister in KP was part of another interim setup in 2018 when the country last went to general elections.

He became the interim minister for the interior after the PML-N tenure ended and an interim government was put in place in the center.

Azam Khan hails from the Charsadda district, located 44.6 kilometers from Peshawar.

Since his retirement in the 1990s, he has served in many capacities in the province.

Many people consider him a “competent” and “fair person”.

Azam Khan held the following positions before and after his retirement as one of the top bureaucrats.

• Minister for Finance, Planning & Development KPK from October 24, 2007, to April 1, 2008.
• UNDP Adviser to Lachi Poverty Reduction Project (LPRP) from January 1997 to June 6, 2007
• National Project Coordinator UNDP, LPRP
• Chairman of Pakistan Tobacco Board, Ministry of Commerce, Peshawar
• Secretary for Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Resources, Islamabad
• Secretary for Ministry of Religious Affairs
• Chief Secretary for the Government of KP from September 1990 to July 1993

Academic qualifications

• Lincoln’s Inn, London, United Kingdom Barrister-at-Law (1962)
• Patron: Special education Centre Charsadda

Professional background

• Member, Institutional Management Committee
• Member of Steering Committee of International Irrigation Management Institute
• State Bank of Pakistan: Member of High Powered Commission on Rural Finance
• Member of National Statistics Council, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad
• Director, Board of Directors of Rural Support Programme Network
• Member of South Asia Social Mobilization Network
• Director, Board Of Directors of Allied Bank of Pakistan
• President of Senior Alumni Association, Islamia College Peshawar
• Member Senate, Islamia College, Peshawar (Chartered University)
• Member, Board of Governors, City University, Peshawar
• Chairman Board of Director, Centre of Excellence for Rural Development (CERD)
• Vice President of Children’s SOS Villages of Pakistan, Peshawar
• Director of Imran Khan Foundation (Flood Relief and Rehabilitation)
• Member of National Oversight Disaster Management Council Pakistan.
• Chairman of Supreme Court Flood Commission Enquiry

The newly-appointed caretaker CM of KP confirmed on Saturday to Aaj News that he would be taking the oath of office later in the day.

“We will provide all kinds of assistance to the election commission for transparent elections,” he said.