Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad Sohail Afridi on Sunday said that the provincial government is strictly implementing a policy of merit, good governance, and zero tolerance for corruption in line with the vision of PTI founder Imran Khan, rejecting political interference in public sector appointments and warning of strict action against corrupt practices.

Addressing a public gathering in Kohat, the chief minister said that 16,000 recruitments in the Education Department had been carried out entirely on merit, throwing an open challenge to anyone to prove even a single case of political recommendation. 

He announced that all future recruitments in provincial departments would be conducted through the Educational Testing and Evaluation Agency (ETEA), making it clear that no job in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be awarded on political grounds.

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He warned that if evidence of corruption was presented from anywhere in the province, the government would take indiscriminate and strict action against those responsible. He added that government offices had been directed to keep their doors open to the public to ensure the immediate resolution of citizens’ problems.

Criticising the federal government, Soheil Afridi said that the country’s debt had risen to Rs80 trillion, while public tax money was being wasted. He alleged that efforts were underway to suppress Imran Khan and eliminate Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, but stressed that the KP government would not retreat from Imran Khan’s policies under any circumstances.

During the rally, the chief minister also announced several development initiatives for Kohat, including the establishment of a Girls Cadet College, a girls’ campus at Kohat University, a 1,000-bed hospital, and projects aimed at resolving the city’s drinking water issues.