The Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as Governor of North-West Frontier Province) is the appointed head of state of the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly North-West Frontier Province, or NWFP), Pakistan. Although the governor is the head of the province on paper, it is largely a ceremonial position; and the main powers lie with the elected Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the senior-most bureaucrat in the province.
However, throughout the history of Pakistan, the powers of the provincial governors were vastly increased, when the provincial assemblies were dissolved and the administrative role came under direct control of the governors, as in the cases of martial laws of 1958–1972 and 1977–1985, and governor rules of 1999–2002. In the case of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, there were two direct governor rules, in 1975 and 1994, when the provincial chief ministers of those times were removed and assemblies dissolved.
List of governors
No. Name Took office Left office Affiliation Term length1Sir George Cunningham15 August 19479 April 1948Indian Civil Service2Sir Ambrose Dundas Flux Dundas19 April 194816 July 1949Indian Civil Service3Sahibzada Mohammad Khurshid16 July 194914 January 1950Independent4Mohammad Ibrahim Khan Jhagra14 January 195017 February 1950Judiciary5Ismail Ibrahim Chundrigar17 February 195023 November 1951Muslim League6Khwaja Shahabuddin24 November 195117 November 1954Muslim League7Qurban Ali Shah17 November 195414 October 1955IndependentProvinces merged to form West Pakistan (14 October 1955 – 1 July 1970)8Lt Gen K. M. Azhar1 July 197025 December 1971Presidency of Yahya Khan9Hayat Sherpao25 December 197130 April 1972Pakistan Peoples Party10Arbab Sikandar Khan29 April 197215 February 1973National Awami Party11Aslam Khattak15 February 197324 May 1974National Awami Party12Syed Ghawas24 May 19741 March 1976Pakistan Peoples Party13Naseerullah Babar1 March 19766 July 1977Pakistan Peoples Party14Abdul Hakeem Khan 6 July 197717 September 1978Civil Administration15Lt Gen Fazle Haq11 October 197812 December 1985Presidency of Zia-ul-Haq16Nawabzada Abdul Ghafoor Khan Hoti30 December 198518 April 1986Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam17Syed Usman Ali Shah18 April 198627 August 1986Civil Administration18Fida Mohammad Khan27 August 198616 June 1988Pakistan Muslim League (F)19Amir Gulistan Janjua16 June 198819 July 1993Independent20Khurshid Ali Khan19 July 19935 November 1996Pakistan Peoples Party21Arif Bangash11 November 199617 August 1999Independent22Miangul Aurangzeb18 August 199921 October 1999Pakistan Muslim League (N)23Lt Gen Mohammad Shafiq21 October 199914 August 2000Presidency of Pervez Musharraf24Lt Gen Iftikhar Hussain Shah14 August 200015 March 2005Presidency of Pervez Musharraf25Khalilur Rehman15 March 200523 May 2006Pakistan Muslim League (Q)26Lt Gen Ali Jan Orakzai24 May 20067 January 2008Presidency of Pervez Musharraf27Owais Ahmed Ghani7 January 20089 February 2011Independent28Syed Masood Kausar10 February 201110 February 2013Pakistan Peoples Party29Shaukatullah Khan10 February 201314 April 2014Pakistan Peoples Party30Mehtab Ahmed Khan Abbasi15 April 20148 February 2016Pakistan Muslim League (N)31Iqbal Zafar Jhagra25 February 201620 August 2018Pakistan Muslim League (N)32Shah Farman5 September 201816 April 2022 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf33Haji Ghulam Ali23 November 20224 May 2024Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F)34Faisal Karim Kundi5 May 2024Incumbent Pakistan People’s Party
See also Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa List of current Pakistani governors List of current Pakistani chief ministers
References
Official website of Government of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa