News
March 08, 2024
Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cabinets Take Oath
LAHORE / PESHAWAR: Newly elected members of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinets were sworn in on Wednesday.
In Lahore, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman administered oath to the 18-member cabinet of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif. The cabinet has only two female members. The KP cabinet, comprising 15 ministers and five advisers, was administered oath by Governor Haji Ghulam Ali.
PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, who has been brought to Punjab from the Centre to assist Ms Sharif, has been given the senior minister status, besides the portfolios for planning and development, environment and forest, virtually becoming the deputy chief minister to oversee all major projects initiated by Ms Sharif.
PML-N Punjab Information Secretary Azma Bokhari has been given the portfolio of the information ministry.
Maryam Nawaz’s relative Bilal Yasin has been given the food ministry and her close associate Faisal Ayub Khokhar, son of the party Lahore president Saif Khokhar, has been given the sports ministry.
Ms Sharif has picked up three members of her uncle Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet of 2013-18 — Imran Nazir, Khawaja Salman Rafique and Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman — and gave them their previous portfolios, i.e. primary health, specialized health care, and finance, respectively.
Since Mr Rehman’s main job during Shehbaz Sharif’s 2013-18 tenure was that of reading the budget speech in the Punjab Assembly, as Mr Shehbaz would look after the ministry’s affairs himself, the same pattern is likely to be followed under CM Maryam Nawaz.
PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was also rewarded for his loyalty to the Sharifs, and his son, Shafay Hussain, was given the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Sources said Maryam Nawaz was not in favour of taking any ally in the cabinet in the first phase, but Mr Shujaat managed to influence her from the “right quarters”.
Ramesh Singh Arora, who was recently elected Pardhan (president) of the Pakistan Gurdwara Parbhandhik Committee, has been given the portfolio of minorities, while Khalil Tahir Sindhu has been made minister for human rights.
The fate of Nawaz Sharif’s close aide Pervaiz Rashid could not be decided. Since he has been attending every meeting of CM Maryam since she assumed charge, it was anticipated that he would be inducted into the cabinet.
Talking to journalists after the oath-taking ceremony, Maryam Nawaz said: “Young and foreign qualified people have been inducted in the cabinet.”
KP’s 15-member cabinet takes oath
The ministers inducted in the KP’s 15-member cabinet include Arshad Ayub Khan, Shakeel Ahmad, Fazal Hakim Khan, Muhammad Adnan Qadri, Aqibullah Khan, Muhammad Sajjad, Meena Khan, Fazal Shakoor, Nazir Ahmad Abbasi, Pakhtoon Yar Khan, Aftab Alam Khan Afridi, Khaleeq Ur Rehman, Syed Qasim Ali Shah, Faisal Khan Tarakai and Muhammad Zahir Shah.
Earlier, a summary was sent to the governor to approve the appointment of members of the provincial assembly as ministers on the advice of the KP chief minister. On Wednesday, the governor approved the summary and appointed the members of the KP Assembly as ministers.
The oath-taking ceremony was attended by members from the national and provincial assemblies, KP Assembly Speaker Babar Salim Swati, KP Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, KP Police Chief Akhtar Hayat Khan Gandapur, administrative secretaries and party workers.
Meanwhile, in two different notifications, the administration department notified Syed Fakhar Jehan, Muzammil Aslam, Muhammad Ali Saif, Mashal Azam and Zahid Chanzeb as advisers to the KP chief minister, while Khalid Latif Khan, Abdul Karim Khan, Liaqat Ali Khan and Amjad Ali were notified as special assistants to the KP chief minister. - Dawn
Courtesy Dawn
Back to Pakistanlink Home