ISLAMABAD, Nov 5: Pakistan Muslim League-N lashed out at the government on Wednesday for inducting an army of ministers and advisers in the federal cabinet and termed it illogical and unjust at a time when the country was facing a serious economic crisis being faced by the country.

In a statement issued here, PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal said the decision to appoint so many ministers and advisers would send a wrong signal to the international community because the government was seeking loans and financial assistance from different countries.

He said that while the nation was suffering from an unprecedented price hike and the country was on the verge of bankruptcy, the government had expanded the cabinet to about 60 members. Criticising the government for not taking any practical step to provide relief to the people, he said the cabinet expansion reflected the non-serious attitude of the rulers.

Mr Iqbal said if the government wanted to accommodate all coalition partners in the cabinet, it could have taken ministers from all parties in a small cabinet.

He said China was the second largest industrial country in the world but it had only a 25-member cabinet; Canada, which was area-wise world’s second largest country, had only 38 ministers, Japan 18 ministers, Germany 15 and Saudi Arabia 21. He said it was strange that after inducting such a large number of ministers, the government was seeking financial assistance from countries which had smaller cabinets.

Mr Iqbal also criticised President Asif Zardari for visiting Saudi Arabia with a delegation of more than 200 people in a chartered plane. He said Pakistan would become a laughing stock after learning that hundreds of people had been taken for a free Umra with a begging bowl in the hands of the leaders.

The PML-N leader warned that if the government continued to squander money no one would be able to save the country from going bankrupt. He asked the government to mend its ways because it was answerable to 160 million people of the country.