July 22, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 21, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 21: The government of Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Monday was dealt a major blow when it was left with no other option but to withdraw 11 names from the original list of 35 it had intended to appoint as parliamentary secretaries.

With this, the long overdue expansion of the federal cabinet, hitherto expected in the first week of August, also appears to have become uncertain as the differences within the ruling alliance on the selection of names for the new ministers seem to have deepened further.

The prime minister had selected as many as 35 parliamentary secretaries, 24 from the ruling PML-Q, four from the PPP Patriots, two each from the MQM, NA and PML-F and the rest from other splinter groups but the notification issued on Monday omitted 11 names from the original list — six of PML-Q, two of MQM, and one each of PML-J and NA.

The nominees for the parliamentary secretaries belonging to the ruling PML-Q as well as other coalition parties reportedly refused to accept the slots on various grounds, including this that they deserved cabinet slots which, they are believed to have contended, were promised to them.

The MQM reportedly withdrew its two nominees protesting against non-accommodation of four of its MPs. The name of PML-J’s Rehana Aleem Mashadi was withdrawn by the party president to ensure his other party MP secured a cabinet berth and the PPP-S resented non-inclusion of its second MNA in the list.

Omar Ayub Khan, son of Gohar Ayub Khan, who had refused to become a parliamentary secretary on the ground that he deserved to be made a minister, finally agreed to accept the offer reportedly on the persuasion of his father.

The PM, after nominating parliamentary secretaries, had also short-listed the aspirants for his cabinet and was to finalize the same after consulting with President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the party chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.

The cabinet was to be expanded with the induction of ten ministers so as to enable those ministers who are now holding more than one portfolio to concentrate on their main ministry.

The cabinet expansion was first promised by the prime minister after completion of the Senate polls in March. The first batch of his cabinet had taken oath in the last week of November.

The names of those initially appointed as parliamentary secretaries were notified on Monday. They are: Dr Junaid Mumtaz Joya (son-in-law of federal minister Abdus Sattar Lalika), Rana Umar Nazir (son of PM’s political adviser Rana Nazir), Rahila Yahya Munawar (wife of PM’s political secretary), Mohammad Saeed Virk, Sanaullah Mastikhel, Chaudhry Bilal Ijaz, Rao Mohammad Ajmal Khan, Ali Asjad Malhi, Rajab Ali Baloch, Sardar Shah Jahan Yusuf, Rai Aslam Kharal, Bushara Nazir, Bilal Ahmed Virk, Mazhar Ahmed Qureshi, Mrs Rifat Javed, Hina Rabbani Khar, and Prof Mushtaq Victor from PML-Q, Arbab Zakullah NA, Syed Javed Ali Shah of PML-F and Maj (retd) Tanveer Hussain, Asad Murtaza Gilani, Amir Yar Malik, Faiz Tamman from the PPP Patriots.

The names dropped from the list are M.P.Bhandara, Aftab Ahmed Khitchi, Salma Akhtar Bharwana, Zahid Hameed and Malik Amin Aslam. Similarly, MQM’s Shamim Siddiqi and Dr Abdul Qadir were also withdrawn in protest, while NA’s Sumaira Malik also refused to become a parliamentary secretary as the alliance had wanted four slots for itself.