31 August 2004	Tuesday	14 Rajab 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 30: The new federal cabinet is likely to be sworn in on Friday, informed sources told Dawn on Monday.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz who held consultations with President General Pervez Musharraf and ruling PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on the composition of his cabinet before and after assuming his office is said to be giving final touches to the list of ministers.

Sources here said on Monday that Mr Aziz had decided in principle to give the cabinet a new look by reshuffling portfolios of ministers in the last cabinet and also to include some new faces, mostly young MPs, since he has little or no political space to drop even a single member of the former cabinet.

The 'open house' held by the prime minister on Monday in which a cross-section of lawmakers of allied parties exchanged ideas with him on cabinet formation reportedly did not serve the purpose Mr Aziz had in mind.

The sources said that the exchanges put him under intense pressure and may have to give up any thought of having a team of his own and instead get the approval of the president on the names suggested by Chaudhry Shujaat.

The president, according to the sources, has given the names of a few young lawmakers to the premier for consideration. These include Omar Ayub Khan, Hina Rabbani Khar and Kashmala Tariq. Besides, former communications minister Lt-Gen Javed Ashraf Qazi is also said to have been recommended by the president.

The prime minister has been hinting at a performance-and result-oriented team of ministers which would be given a target with a 'probation period' of six months.

The cabinet formation, the sources said, was taking unusually more time because of intense lobbying by various interest groups with the premier receiving a large number of legislators on a daily basis, who come apparently to felicitate him but in fact to present themselves as candidates for cabinet berths.