May 02, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 25, 1429

KARACHI, May 1: Thirteen MPAs of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) will be sworn in as provincial ministers at a ceremony to be held at the Governor’s House on Friday.

The Muttahida MPAs to be inducted into the Syed Qaim Ali Shah-led cabinet include Adil Siddiqui, Shoaib Bukhari, Abdul Haseeb, Faisal Subzwari, Raza Haroon, Askari Taqvi, Rauf Siddiqui, Surgeon Mohammad Ali Shah, Nadia Gabol, Khalid bin Walayat and Dr Saghir Ahmed.

Party sources told Dawn that the MQM was still finalising the allocation of portfolios to its ministers and the process might take one more day. Therefore, the portfolios of the new ministers would be notified later, they said. After holding a series of dialogues, the MQM and the Pakistan People’s Party struck a power-sharing deal in the province under which the former was given portfolios of health, environment and alternative energy, commerce and industry, sports, youth affairs, bureau of supply and prices, information technology, public health engineering, Auqaf, rural development and human rights.

However, two ministers and an adviser of the MQM will not be given any portfolios.