PESHAWAR   -  Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister-in-waiting Mehmood Khan has shortlisted members of his cabinet which would also include those who remained ministers in previous government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, sources said.

According to party sources, Atif Khan will continue to remain education minister while other members of the cabinet could be Shahram Tarakai, Mushtaq Ghani, Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Sultan Muhammad, Ishtiaq Urmar, Ziaullah Bangash, Amjad Ali, Malik Qasim and Humayun Khan.

Mehmood Khan has also decided to give the post of deputy speaker KP Assembly to a female member, the sources said. It was also learnt that at least 10 ministers would take oath in the first round.

Some of the portfolios of the cabinet could be changed later, the sources said. However, focus would be made to appoint specialists to each department to run the affairs of the province as per the expectation of the masses, the sources added.

Shahram Khan Taraki remained health minister in the last PTI-led provincial government. He remained focused on Medical Teaching Institutes (MTI) Act which took four long years to in implementation. Ashtiaq Urmar served as minister of forest and wildlife who also contributed in the Billion Tree Tsunami project aimed at planting one billion tree saplings across the province.

Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani was minister for information and played his role as the spokesperson of the KP government. Several times the cabinet portfolios were changed which suffered continuity of the reforms process.

Taimur Jhagra, Sultan Muhammad Khan and Hamyun Khan could be new entrants in the cabinet if they were handed over ministries. However, they have no experience of the cabinet and their performance would be tested after they are handed over responsibilities to them.