News
Wednesday, April 03, 2013
14-member cabinet takes oath; Dr Mushtaq dropped* Portfolios of ministers will be announced soon
* Nizami likely to get Information Ministry, Soofi Law Ministry and Habib Interior Ministry
ISLAMABAD: Fourteen of the fifteen people nominated by interim Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso for the caretaker cabinet took oath on Tuesday, with Dr Mushtaq Khan, mysteriously, dropped at the eleventh hour.
President Asif Ali Zardari administered the oath at a brief ceremony at the Presidency. Ministers have been drawn from all the four provinces, and will look after the affairs of the state until an elected government takes over after the May 11 elections. The interim cabinet includes seven members from Punjab, three each from Sindh and Balochistan and two from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Those administered oath are: Malik Habib, Ahmer Bilal Soofi, Dr Musaddaq Malik, Arif Nizami, Sohail Wajahat H Siddique, Shahzada Ahsan Ashraf Sheikh, Maqbool HH Rahmatoola, Abdul Malik Kasi, Asad Ullah Mandokhel, Mir Hassan Dhomki, Dr Sania Nishtar, Feroze Jamal Shah Kakakhel, Dr Younis Soomro and Shahzada Jamal.
Except for a couple of names, most of the ministers are little-known personalities. The portfolios of the ministers will be announced later. However, veteran journalist Arif Nizami is likely to be given Information Ministry. Nizami is the second journalist, after Punjab caretaker Chief Minister Najam Sethi, to be inducted in the interim set-up.
Ahmer Bilal Soofi, who is an expert on international law and is a human rights activist, is likely to be given the Law Ministry. Malik Habib is likely to get all-important Interior Ministry. The chair of Dr Mushtaq Khan, who was likely to get the charge of Finance Ministry and was also present at the oath taking ceremony, was removed minutes before the ceremony started.
No official from the federal government was available to comment on the matter. However, sources said that State Bank Governor Yasin Anwar blocked him from joining the ministerial bandwagon. Dr Mushtaq is working as chief economic adviser at the State Bank of Pakistan and, being a government employee, is barred from being part of the interim cabinet. However, an interesting aspect of his joining the cabinet as finance minister would have been SBP governor reporting to him instead of the current position where he reports to the central bank chief.
Newly inducted caretaker federal minister Arif Nizami told journalists after the ceremony that interim government’s priority is to ensure holding of free, fair and transparent elections. He said democracy in the country had prevailed despite several attempts to sabotage the elections. Malik Habib said his topmost priority will be to improve law and order for the elections and assured to provide foolproof security to national leaders in their election campaign. farooq awanCourtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk