ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday administered the oath of office to Shaukat Tarin who would be holding the office of Minister for Finance.
The swearing-in ceremony was held at the presidency here.
President Dr. Arif Alvi administered the oath to Senator Shaukat Fayaz Ahmed Tarin as Federal Minister of Finance and Revenue at Aiwan-e-Sadr. pic.twitter.com/jHA1NpjjtX
— The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) December 27, 2021
After the oath, the president also extended felicitation to the newest member of the federal cabinet.
The ceremony was attended by the federal and provincial ministers, State Bank Governor Raza Baqir and other government officials.
Tarin, who was earlier serving as Advisor on Finance, was elected to Senate last week in the by-election for a general seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Tarin was first appointed Minister for Finance for a period of six months on April 17. He needed to be elected to the either House of Parliament in order to continue in his post for longer than the six-month period after his appointment.
But that did not happen and, in October, he was, instead, notified as an adviser to the prime minister on finance and revenue.
Until today, Tarin was the fourth adviser to the prime minister after Mirza Shahzad Akbar, Abdul Razak Dawood and Babar Awan.
The government had earlier planned to get him elected from Punjab against the seat of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ishaq Dar that has virtually remained vacant in his absence. Dar was elected in 2018 in absentia has not taken oath because of his self-exile in the United Kingdom since 2017.
The first priority was to get Tarin elected on Dar’s seat, but a second plan was also in place to get a Senate seat vacated from KP for his election because of some legal uncertainties. The government feared that Tarin’s election on Dar’s seat could be challenged in courts and stayed.
Tarin also headed the finance division in the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government and is the fourth finance minister appointed by Prime Minister Khan after Asad Umar, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and Hammad Azhar had been given the portfolio.
As an adviser to the prime minister, Tarin wasn’t able to chair meetings of cabinet committees in view of an Islamabad High Court (IHC) judgement.
QURESHI SWORN IN OMBUDSMAN
Seperately, Alvi also administered the oath of federal ombudsman’s office to Ejaz Ahmed Qureshi.
After the oath, the president also extended greetings to Qureshi who would succeed Syed Tahir Shahbaz as the seventh ombudsman.
