ISLAMABAD: The first batch of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet has been sworn in at an oath-taking ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Tuesday. Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjarani administered the oath to the members of the federal cabinet, instead of President Arif Alvi as he excused himself from performing his constitutional duty.
The cabinet has 37 federal ministers, three ministers of state and three advisers belonging to PML(N), PPP, JUI-F, MQM-P, MMA, BAP, and JWP.
The cabinet division issued a list of 31 federal ministers, three ministers of state and three advisers included in the first phase of the induction on Monday night.
PML(N) Federal Ministers: PML-N’s Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Khurram Dastgir Khan, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Miftah Ismail, Javed Latif, Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Murtaza Javed Abbasi and Azam Nazeer Tarar took the oath as federal ministers.
PPP Ministers: From the PPP, Syed Khursheed Shah, Syed Naveed Qamar, Sherry Rehman, Abdul Qadir Patel, Shazia Marri, Syed Murtaza Mahmud, Sajid Hussain Turi, Ehsan Ur Rehman Mazari and Abid Hussain took the oath as federal ministers.
JUI(F), MMA, JWP, BAP and PML-Q Ministers: Asad Mahmood, Abdul Wasay and Abdul Shakoor of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan Senator Muhammad Talha Mahmood, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s Aminul Haque and Faisal Sabzwari, Balochistan Awami Party’s Muhammad Israr Tareen, Jamhoori Watan Party’s Nawabzada Shazain Bugti and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s Tariq Bashir Cheema are also among the newly appointed federal ministers.
Ministers of State and Advisors
Meanwhile, PML-N’s Aisha Ghaus Pasha and Abdul Rehman Khan Kanju, as well as PPP’s Hina Rabbani Khar, were administered the oath as ministers of state.
Moreover, PPP’s Qamar Zaman Kaira, PML-N’s Amir Muqam and Awn Chaudhry from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s estranged Jahangir Tareen group have been appointed as advisers to the prime minister.
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 (today).
Earlier, there was uncertainty among the parties of the ruling alliance on becoming a part of the federal cabinet as PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari had said that his party would not take ministries.
However, later, in a brief press talk at Parliament House on Saturday, Asif Zardari said that they want their friends to be accommodated first, The News reported.
Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath’, a PML-N leader said that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari would become the next foreign minister.
However, Bilawal is not among the members of the newly formed cabinet.
