| Senate Chairman administers Oath ceremony | New Cabinet includes 31 Ministers, 3 Ministers of State and three advisers | Bilawal puts condition to take oath as Federal Minister | Fawad mocks newly formed Cabinet, calling it “attendance register of Central Jail”
By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani has administered the oath to federal ministers and ministers of state, who will form the cabinet of newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The oath-taking ceremony began with the recitation of the Holy Quran at the President House. Thirty-one federal ministers and three ministers of state took the oath.
Shehbaz has also appointed three advisers, taking the total strength of the cabinet to 37 members.
In a tweet, PM Shehbaz said that the federal cabinet was formed after “thorough consultations” with PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and the government’s coalition allies.
“It is my fervent hope that federal ministers, ministers of state and advisers will provide leadership, and resolve the problems of the people. Work, work and only work is our motto,” he said.
PML-N’s Marriyum Aurangzeb and Azam Nazir Tarar have been appointed the information and law minister, respectively.
Ahsan Iqbal, also from the PML-N, has been appointed the planning and development minister.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) Aminul Haque has taken charge as the information technology and telecommunications minister. Haque had also held the same portfolio under the previous PTI government.
Further, PPP’s Hina Rabbani Khar was appointed the state minister for foreign affairs while PML-N’s Rana Sanaullah was given the interior ministry. PML-N’s Miftah Ismail and Aisha Ghaus Pasha were appointed as finance minister and state minister for finance, respectively.
Federal ministers: Khawaja Muhammad Asif (PML-N); Ahsan Iqbal (PML-N); Rana Sanaullah (PML-N); Sardar Ayaz Sadiq (PML-N); Rana Tanveer Hussain (PML-N); Khurram Dastgir Khan (PML-N); Marriyum Aurangzeb (PML-N); Khawaja Saad Rafique (PML-N); Miftah Ismail (PML-N); Javed Latif (PML-N); Riaz Hussain Pirzada (PML-N); Murtaza Javed Abbasi (PML-N); Azam Nazeer Tarar (PML-N); Syed Khursheed Shah (PPP); Syed Naveed Qamar (PPP); Sherry Rehman (PPP); Abdul Qadir Patel (PPP); Shazia Marri (PPP); Syed Murtaza Mahmud (PPP); Sajid Hussain Turi (PPP); Ehsan Ur Rehman Mazari (PPP); Abid Hussain (PPP); Asad Mahmood (MMA); Abdul Wasay (MMA); Abdul Shakoor (MMA); Muhammad Talha Mahmood (JUI); Aminul Haque (MQM-P); Faisal Sabzwari (MQM-P); Muhammad Israr Tareen (BAP); Shahzain Bugti (JWP); Tariq Bashir Cheema (PML-Q)
Ministers of state: Aisha Ghaus Pasha (PML-N); Abdul Rehman Khan Kanju (PML-N); Hina Rabbani Khar (PPP).
Advisers to the PM: Qamar Zaman Kaira (PPP); Amir Muqam (PML-N); Awn Chaudhry (PTI’s Tareen group).
The ceremony was scheduled to be held on Monday, but it transpired that President Arif Alvi had refused to administer the oath to the lawmakers, compelling the government to postpone the ceremony to Tuesday.
Some government allies were said to be “unsatisfied” over the demands they had extended to the government regarding distribution of ministries and other lucrative positions.
Deadlock persists in POML-N and Pakistan People’s Party as Bilawal Bhutto Zardari did not take oath as Foreign Minister Tuesday.
According to details, the consultation regarding Bilawal’s oath as minister in PM Sharif’s cabinet has been done and the decision has been conditionally attached with the provision of ministries to ANP and Mohsin Dawar.
The PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has expressed concern over Shehbaz Sharif’s failure to fulfil promises made with the Awami National Party (ANP) and Mohsin Dawar and Bilawal will take up the issue with Nawaz Sharif.
Soon after the oath-taking ceremony, former Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry mocked the newly formed cabinet, saying that it seemed like the “attendance register of Central Jail.”
Taking to Twitter, Fawad said, “Miscellaneous cabinet seems like the attendance register of Central Jail when names [of its members] are read. Big dacoits have joined the cabinet.”
