-Sheikh Rashi takes charge as Interior Minister, Hafiz Shaikh as Finance Minister, Azam Swati as Railways Minister, Ijaz Ahmed Shah as Minister for Narcotics
By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan appointed Hafeez Shaikh as the federal minister for finance, while Sheikh Rashid was handed the interior ministry portfolio in yet another cabinet shakeup.
Rashid has been replaced by Azam Swati as the railways minister while retired Brig Ijaz Ahmed Shah, who earlier held the interior ministry portfolio, has been appointed as minister for narcotics control. This is the fourth federal cabinet shakeup in less than three years of the PTI government.
The reshuffle comes days after the Islamabad High Court ruled that unelected advisers and special assistants could not head government’s committees and had subsequently set aside the notification of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation, headed by Hafeez. The move was seen as a major blow to government’s privatisation efforts that were being spearheaded by unelected members of the federal cabinet.
Though Hafeez is not an elected member of Parliament, according to Article 91 (9) of the Constitution, any individual who is not part of the Parliament can be a minister for six months. In order to become a minister again, the unelected member should be elected to the National Assembly.
“A minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the National Assembly shall, at the expiration of that period, cease to be a minister and shall not before the dissolution of that Assembly be again appointed a minister unless he is elected a member of that Assembly,” reads Article 91 (9).
“Nothing in this clause shall apply to a minister who is a member of the Senate,” the clause adds.
Moreover, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was sworn in as the federal minister on Friday. President Dr. Arif Alvi administered the oath to Hafeez Shaikh, who has been serving as the adviser to the prime minister on finance, at a ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad.
He was sworn in as the federal minister in the wake of the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) December 7 ruling that held that unelected advisers and special assistants could not head government’s committees. The court had set aside a notification regarding the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) headed by Dr Shaikh. Though mostly elected representatives i.e. members of the National Assembly or Senate can be appointed as federal ministers, a clause in the Constitution provides for a short-term appointment of non-elected ministers.
“A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the National Assembly shall, at the expiration of that period, cease to be a Minister and shall not before the dissolution of that Assembly be again appointed a Minister unless he is elected a member of that Assembly,” reads the clause nine of Article 91 of the Constitution.
