MUZAFFARABAD, Nov 13: Eleven more ministers are inducted in the AJK cabinet here on Saturday raising its strength to 19 and apparently bringing to an end a year-long crisis in the Muslim Conference's parliamentary party.
According to a notification issued by the services and general administration department, lawmakers inducted in the cabinet were Chaudhry Tariq Farooq (district Bhimber), Mohammad Masood Khalid (Mirpur), Hafiz Hamid Raza (Kashmiri refugee from Jammu), Raja Mohammad Yasin (Bagh), Mohammad Yasin Gulshan (Poonch), Sardar Tahir Anwar (Poonch but elected against a special seat), Raja Mohammad Naseer (Kotli), Deevan Ali Chughtai and Mir Ali Akbar (Muzaffarabad), Amir Ghaffar Lone (Kashmiri refugee from Valley) and Shireen Waheed (elected against reserved seats for women).
Separately, two women legislators, Noreen Arif and Shamim Akhtar, were also appointed by the PM as his advisers. Belonging to district Muzaffarabad, Ms Arif was elected against a special seat for women while Ms Akhtar was elected directly from a Kashmiri refugees' constituency in Punjab.
The rank and status of the new advisers was not mentioned in the notification. Already, the prime minister has Raja Farooq Haider as his adviser on information and political affairs. Mr Khan, who could not make to the assembly in last elections, enjoyed the status of minister.
New cabinet members, who are to take oath after Eidul Fitr holidays, would be allotted portfolios around the same time after reshuffling of the portfolios of the existing eight ministers.
Interestingly, with the much-awaited expansion, only eight Muslim Conference lawmakers have been left without flags. They include party's head Sardar Abdul Qayyum, president Sardar Attique Ahmed and secretary-general Shah Ghulam Qadir besides Abdul Waheed Khan, Syed Shaukat Shah, Nahid Tariq, Attiqur Rehman Faizpuri and Chaudhry Mohammad Khan.
Shaukat Shah, however, already enjoys the status of minister as chairman Ulema/Mashaikh Council.
But, Mr Qadir, who was among four ministers who had resigned earlier this year along with a parliamentary secretary, had, however, himself announced that he would not accept ministership in the present set up.
He was leading the 11-member 'like minded group' of Muslim Conference dissidents.
The dissidents, demanding ouster of Mr Hayat, had initially proposed Sardar Attique as the new leader of the house but later did not press for his name ostensibly due to some misgivings.
However, they did not give up their demand for the PM's resignation which was not honoured as the PM who enjoyed the backing of the 'powers that be' would always say that he had support of parliamentary party's majority.
Nevertheless, the cabinet expansion had become a tricky problem for him, and despite announcing dates for expansion on a number of times he could not do that.
Lately, dissidents were clearly told to eschew their demand regarding the PM's ouster and instead mend fences with him following which they attended an Iftar dinner he hosted in their honour at Kashmir House Islamabad.
On Friday, the premier, who was in his home district Kotli to celebrate Eid, flew back to Islamabad after being called from there by the army's 10th corps commander for an urgent meeting with him along with Mr Qadir.
The expansion of the cabinet was announced by the prime minister and Mr Qadir at a joint press conference in the Kashmir House after that meeting where absence of Muslim Conference chief Sardar Attique was felt by everybody.
The prime minister said he wanted to induct Mr Qadir but he had declined the offer saying he would rather focus attention to strengthen the party.
Local newspapers quoted the prime minister as having said at the press conference that the name of Sardar Attique - who at one stage of the crisis was being tipped as senior minister in the expansion - was not cleared by the powerful quarters.
