MUZAFFARABAD, Oct 6: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed on Sunday reshuffled the portfolios of three ministers, and further rearrangement of cabinet members’ duties is expected in the future.
According to a notification issued by the Services and General Administration Department (S&GAD), the Azad Kashmir Logging and Sawmills Corporation had been withdrawn from Raja Faisal Mumtaz and allotted to Raja Wajid ur Rehman, who earlier held the responsibility of fisheries and prisons.
Mr Mumtaz was given the responsibility of electricity, while fisheries and prisons were retained by the prime minister himself.
Similarly, the AJK Hydro-Electric Board (HEB), which was looked after by senior minister for local government Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin, has now been allotted to the finance minister, Chaudhry Latif Akbar.
A source close to Mr Yasin told Dawn that the HEB had been withdrawn from Mr Yasin, an influential People’s Party leader in AJK, with his own consent. It was done to please Mr Akbar, who was allegedly not satisfied with his present portfolio.
Premier Majeed had ordered the reshuffling from Karachi where he had flown on Saturday to hold consultations with his party’s central leadership.
Decisions regarding the induction of ministers and allotment of portfolios are usually made by the Peoples Party’s central leadership, mainly Faryal Talpur.
Meanwhile, two recently inducted cabinet members – Chaudhry Akbar Ibrahim and Chaudhry Mohammad Hussain Sargala –are still without any portfolios.
An official in the PM office told Dawn that further shuffling of portfolios would likely be made in the coming days.































