Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s 34-member cabinet took oath on Tuesday, with Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjirani administering the oath to the federal ministers and ministers of state in the absence of President Dr Arif Alvi.
The coalition government finally succeeded in forming a cabinet after 8 days. The swearing-in ceremony was held today in the President’s house, in Islamabad.
Division of ministries
The federal cabinet has 11 ministers and an adviser from the PPP, with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari taking the oath as Foreign Minister on his return from the UK.
Naveed Qamar will be given Ministry of Commerce, Sherry Rehman will have the portfolio of Ministry of Climate Change, Abdul Qadir Patel will get National Health Services, Shazia Murree will lead BISP, Murtaza Mehmood will head Ministry of Industries, Sajid Turi will serve as Minister for Overseas, Ehsan Mazari will be given portfolio of IPC, Abid Bhai will take oath as Minister for Privatization, Hina Rabbani Khar, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar will be sworn in as Minister of State for Law and Justice and Qamar Zaman Kaira as Advisor on Kashmir Affairs.
Earlier, addressing a press conference, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said on Monday that the formation of the federal cabinet has been completed and an announcement will be made.
She said all allies of the government will have representation in ministries. She said long consultations were made to decide the ministerial portfolios.
Marriyum said the nation had to decide whether they wanted to stand by those who were meticulously pursuing the agenda of development and prosperity or to be misled by the propaganda of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan.
She expressed the optimism that the people were prudent enough to finally opt for the well-wishers of Pakistan.
The PML-N spokesperson said for the last four years, the people were made to believe fake development and progress at the cost of public money.
“Fake papers were waved in the Press Information Department (PID), whereas the former prime minister kept on levelling allegations against political opponents on daily basis,” she added.
The nation, she said, would soon know about the flawed policies of the PTI government that did great harm to the country. High inflation, unemployment, a ruined economy, mishandling of the Kashmir issue, and foreign policy misadventure were the hallmarks of the last four years, she lamented.
Marriyum said Imran Khan started to target state institutions in a bid to cover up his sheer incompetence and lacklustre performance. He even did not spare the judges who had exposed his unconstitutional moves.
The PTI, she said, would soon start crying foul about yet another ‘conspiracy’ as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had been directed by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to conclude the foreign funding case against the PTI chairman within 30 days.
