April 23, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 16, 1429

LAHORE, April 22: The first phase of government formation in Punjab was completed on Tuesday with 14 ministers, eight of the PML-N and six of the PPP, taking oath of office.

The PPP’s parliamentary leader Raja Riaz had earlier taken oath as senior minister.

When Governor Khalid Maqbool administered the oath the venue reverberated with ‘Go Musharraf Go’ slogans.

Ministers of the PML-N were wearing black armbands on the occasion.

Two of the ministers—Rana Sanaullah Khan and Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman –are not members of the Punjab assembly.

Under the law they will have to get themselves elected within six months.

The coalition government in the province has announced that the cabinet will comprise 35 ministers.

It is expected that the rest of ministers will be indicted after by-elections.

PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif is contesting by-poll from a Lahore seat and he is likely to replace Dost Mohammad Khosa as the chief minister.

The PML-N ministers and their portfolios are: Rana Sanaullah Khan (law and parliamentary affairs), Malik Nadeem Kamran (food), Ahmad Ali Oulakh (agriculture), Mujtaba Shaujaur Rehman (excise and taxation), Iqbal Chunnar (special education), Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor (trade and commerce) and Kamran Michael (minorities).

The PPP ministers and their portfolios are: Tanveer Ashraf Kaira (finance), Haji Ishaq (revenue), Neelam Jabbar (population welfare), Ashraf Sohna (labour and human resource), Ehsanuddin Qureshi (religious affairs and Auqaf) and Raja Riaz (irrigation and power.)

No portfolio has yet been allocated to PPP ministers, Tanveerul Islam and Farooq Yousuf Ghurki.

The coalition partners have not been able to decide which party would get the important portfolios of education and health.

PPP Punjab leader and senior minister Raja Riaz claimed that the issue would be settled by Wednesday.