MUZAFFARABAD: As many as 11 members of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Assembly will be sworn in as ministers on Saturday, the sixth day of the installation of Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider.

Sources said the notification about the constitution of cabinet will be issued at 11am on Saturday and the oath will be administered at about 1pm by President Sardar Yaqoob Khan.

The proposed cabinet includes two ministers from the Muzaffarabad division, four from Poonch, three from Mirpur, and two from Pakistan based Kashmiri refugees, sources in the ruling PML-N told Dawn.

The PML-N had secured 31 seats in the AJK general elections and another five in the elections on reserved seats. The party also helped its ally, Jamaat-i-Islami secure two of the reserved seats.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has given Mr Haider a free hand for forming the cabinet on merit, according to sources.

However, the AJK premier consulted with his central leadership when finalising the 11-member team.

Since most of the previous governments, particularly those after 2001, had appointed almost all legislators either as ministers or advisers with the status of a minister, many PML-N lawmakers in the sitting assembly were surprised to know they may not be part of the cabinet to be installed on Saturday.

Those who are to be inducted on Saturday include Noreen Arif and Barrister Iftikhar Gillani from Muzaffarabad, Mushtaq Minhas and Sardar Mir Akbar Khan from Bagh, Chaudhry Mohammad Aziz from Haveli, Dr Najeeb Naqi from Sudhnoti, Raja Nisar Ahmed Khan and Sardar Farooq Sikandar from Kotli, Chaudhry Tariq Farooq from Bhimber, Haji Javed Akhtar from refugees from occupied Jammu and Syed Shaukat Shah from refugees from occupied Kashmir Valley. Tariq Farooq will most likely be designated senior minister.

It was first announced that journalist turned politician Mushtaq Minhas will be appoinyed adviser to the AJK council chairman, the Pakistan premier, with the status of federal minister due to his personal relations with Mr Sharif. However, he has also been included in the cabinet on his wishes.

Interestingly, no one from Mirpur is said to be included in the cabinet even though the PML-N secured three out of four direct seats. It was also widely assumed that Chaudhry Mohammad Saeed, the former Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry president who had defeated PTI’s regional chief Barrister Sultan Mahmood in the July 21 polls, would also make his way to the cabinet on merit.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2016