— First batch includes 30 ministers, three advisers, four ministers of state
— PPP chairman Bilawal skips swearing in
ISLAMABAD: A 34-member cabinet of newly-elected prime minister Shehbaz Sharif was sworn in Tuesday during a brief ceremony here at Aiwan-e-Sadr.
Acting President Sadiq Sanjrani administered oath. The ceremony was scheduled to be held on Monday, but President Arif Alvi refused to administer the oath, compelling the government to postpone the ceremony to 11:00 am Tuesday.
Sharif’s former political rivals, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) members are also part of his coalition government.
Sharif also attended the ceremony. His election on April 11 ousted former prime minister Imran Khan.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari skipped the oath-taking without any explanation. However, sources in the PPP say that Bilawal has put precondition that Mohsin Dawar should also be included in the cabinet. However, the prime minister has yet to agree.
Under the power-sharing formula, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) got a lion’s share in the cabinet with 14 ministers, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) 11, and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) four ministries.
Meanwhile, the rest of the seven positions were allotted among smaller parties.
Those who took the oath of office today include 31 federal ministers and three ministers of state.
According to reports, the cabinet members include Khwaja Muhammad Asif (Minister of Defence), Ahsan Iqbal (Minister for Planning and Development), Rana Sanaullah Khan (Ministry of Interior), Ayaz Sadiq, Rana Tanveer Hussain (Ministry of Education and Professional Training), Khurram Dastgir Khan, Marriyum Aurangzeb (Ministry of Information), Khwaja Saad Rafique (Ministry of Railways), Miftah Ismail, Mian Javed Latif, Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Azam Nazeer Tarar (Law and Justice), Syed Khurshid Ahmad Shah (Ministry of Water Resources), Syed Naveed Qamar (Ministry of Commerce), Sherry Rehman (Ministry of Climate Change), Abdul Qadir Patel (Ministry of Health), Shazia Marri (Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety), Syed Murtaza Mahmood (Minister for Industries), Sajid Hussain Toori (Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development), Ahsanur Rehman Mazari (Ministry of Human Rights), Abid Hussain (Minister of Privatisation), Asad Mahmood (Ministry Of Communication), Abdul Wassey (Ministry of Housing and Works), Mufti Abdul Shakoor (Ministry of Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony), Muhammad Talha Mahmood (Ministry of SAFFRON), Syed Amin-ul-Haq (Ministry of Information and Technology), Syed Faisal Ali Sabzwari (Ministry of Maritime Affairs), Muhammad Israr Tareen (Ministry of Defence Production), Nawabzada Shahzain Bugti (Ministry of Narcotics Control) and Tariq Bashir Cheema (Ministry of Food Security and Research).
The ministers of state who took the oath include Aisha Ghaus Pasha (Finance and Revenue), Hina Rabbani Khar (Foreign Affairs) and Abdul Rehman Khan Kanju.
Qamar Zaman Kaira, Engineer Amir Muqam and Aun Chaudhary have been appointed as advisers.
Sharif ousted Khan through a vote of no-confidence in the National Assembly. Khan lost the grip on power after being deserted by his party allies and a key coalition partner earlier this month.
Since then, Khan has demanded new elections at rallies, saying the new government was imposed under a US conspiracy, a charge Washington has denied.
CABINET MEETING:
Following the oath-taking ceremony, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif summoned the first federal cabinet meeting on Wednesday at 10am. The meeting will take place at the PM House.
All the newly-appointed cabinet members and advisers will attend the meeting, in which the current political and economic situation of the country will be discussed.
It has been almost two months since the last federal cabinet meeting was held under an agenda. However, special meetings of the then cabinet were summoned during this period but only for approval on specific matters, such as the much-talked-about “threat letter”.
