Sharif's 25-member cabinet takes oath

Dawn.com Published June 7, 2013

ISLAMABAD: The 25-member federal cabinet of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was sworn in at a ceremony at the presidency on Friday.

The 16 federal ministers and nine ministers of state were administered the oath of office by President Asif Ali Zardari two days after Prime Minister Sharif was sworn in after being elected premier by the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) has announced the portfolios of the federal cabinet. A notification from the Cabinet Division has also been issued in this regard.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan will take over the Interior Ministry with the additional portfolio of Anti-Narcotics, Pervez Rasheed will be given the portfolio of Information Minister, while Ishaq Dar will take over the country's economic matters as Finance Minister. Dar has also been given the additional portfolios of Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatisation.

Khawaja Asif is being given the Ministry of Water and Power, Zahid Hamid Law and Justice and Human Rights, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will be Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, while Ahsan Iqbal is being awarded the Ministry of Planning and Development.

Khawaja Saad Rafiq will take charge of Ministry of Railways, Abdul Qadir Baloch States and Frontier Regions (Safron), Sikandar Hayat Bosan Food Security, Birjees Tahir Gilgit Baltistan and Kashmir Affairs, Murtaza Jatoi Industry and Production, Kamran Michael Port and Shipping while Sardar Yousuf will be the Minister of Religious Affairs.

Sadruddin Shah Rashdi will hold the portfolio of Overseas Pakistanis Minister while Anusha Rehman will be Minister for Information Technology (IT), Saira Afzal Health Science Regulation and Coordination, Khurram Dastagir Khan Science and Technology, Pir Muhammad Aminul Hasnat State Minister for Religious Affairs, Abdul Hakim Baloch State Minister for Railways, Jam Kamal State Minister for Petroleum, Sheikh Aftab State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Mian Balighur Rehman State Minister for Education, Amir Muqam Telecommunication Minister and Shujaat Azeem will be the State Minister for Aviation.

Meanwhile, Sartaj Aziz has been appointed prime minister's Advisor for National Security and Foreign Affairs and Tariq Fatmi and Sanaullah Zahri will serve as Special Advisors to the prime minister.

Moreover, President Zardari, on the advice of the prime minister, has approved the appointment of Munir A. Malik as the Attorney General of Pakistan.

Prime Minister Sharif, Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq and Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, were also present at the presidency for the oath-taking ceremony.

The National Assembly was elected in the May 11 general elections during which the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) managed to secure the most number of seats.

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Khan

Jun 07, 2013 05:16pm

All Lutherans again. Shame.

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Jun 07, 2013 05:19pm

Same old, same old!

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M. Siddique

Jun 07, 2013 05:39pm

Remember Ayub Khan had 11 ministers. Zardari had probably 70. For now Sharif has 25. As lotas switch parties the number will increase. Why do we need large cabinets. What do they do other than being a burden on the tax payers. There has to be a constitutional amendment to limit the ministries to 14 and no misters of state or advisors.

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malick

Jun 07, 2013 05:41pm

Welcome and congratulation to all ministers, I hope they do best and stop drones. Each one of these including PM try to trial Syed Musharraf under article 6.

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Gerry D'Cunha

Jun 07, 2013 05:44pm

there is an old proverb which says::old wine in the new bottle

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Ali Ahmed

Jun 07, 2013 06:19pm

All the appointed ministers are corrupt. One thief in and another out. When Pakistan will be free from few families running the country?

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Zaki N

Jun 07, 2013 07:07pm

Hope PM Sharif limits the slots of ministers & ministers of state, not like previous regime of Zardari where 50-60 ministers, ministers of state occupied the positions. Hope while traveling overseas , he avoids large entourage & free loaders.

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Syed

Jun 07, 2013 07:30pm

Pakistan is at the cross roads, facing an uphill task. Law and order is the top most priority. Chaudhry Nisar has a lot of responsibility as a interior minister and will be observed closely. Karachi hopefully will not be thrown in the fire of compromise. Certainly, there are multiple gangs operating in it. Its high time to take actions against those who hold the Krachiites hostage every now and then.

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Mohsin Saeed khan

Jun 07, 2013 07:35pm

Old wine in a new bottle lets see what does this team do

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Hamid Awan

Jun 07, 2013 07:52pm

Information technology (IT) could act as a backbone of our country and as far as this ministry is concerned a very young person who have studied recently from Europe or America must be given the role as things are constantly changing and old guns are not upto date in this regard. Ahsan Iqbal is a mechanical engineer with no background in IT and how come Mr Ahsan will explain or understand terms like LTE, 4G, MIMO, Microwave technology and so on and will make decisions regarding to it??.

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muzammil ullah khan

Jun 07, 2013 09:07pm

I sincerely hope Nawaz Sharif delivers . It is pretty tough going and will require honesty of purpose . I have reservations about Ch Nisar as interior minister . One irritant and that being the Musharraf case must not be allowed to proceed which is likely to show tha judiciary's bias against Musharraf and its leaning towards Nawaz which in the long run will act as an anchor and may cause serious issues in about 2 years time when Nawaz may find that his popularity graph is down. He should take lessons from Turkey where the once popular regime has suddenly become very unpopular and the excesses of the leaders may cause serious problems for them .

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Ali

Jun 07, 2013 09:16pm

Are they all jiyalays of Punjab or is Nawaz Chaudhry going to include atleast HALF of the cabinet from the rest of the country?

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Sheikh

Jun 07, 2013 09:50pm

New cabinet. Same old failures as cabinet members.....

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MBA

Jun 08, 2013 01:18am

I am very happy about the first civil change of government in our country, but we require a lot of other pressing changes. A comlete list of ministers is not available but there are only few ladies in the list. I hope Pakistan would soon learn to walk and run on two feets (men and women side by side) to carry our country to an overdue progress.

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zaheer

Jun 08, 2013 02:30am

On paper a good balance of experienced and new names-however, moving forward it will be the vision and commitment of these men and women which will carry the day, given the problems facing the country. With a heavy mandate provided by the electorate to PML-N, and the resultant power comes the responsibility of good governance and deliverance. One can only hope for the best and wish them God speed.

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zaheer

Jun 08, 2013 02:46am

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MSA

Jun 08, 2013 03:51am

It is time to share the bounty. Are they qualified and capable of doing the job, we will have to wait and see. Pakistani people are not very patient at this time to wait for too long. The new government will have to show some results soon, else face the music.

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Farooq Ahmad

Jun 08, 2013 04:55am

Mr. Nawaz Sharif brought same old faces to the cabinet which were responsible of his difficulties during the previous tenure. Pakistan,s problem no one is ineffective management system and illiterate political elite. This time his failure to deliver will be attributed to strong and corrupt bureaucracy and lack of political innovation.My suggestion will be to retire all the grade 20 and above officers who were involved with Mussharaf, all the judges of supreme and high court who were issuing their decisions to support the Military rural, s. At the lower level patwari and sho based management should be transformed and elected people brought in to the leadership role. oaster

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K.A.Muhammad

Jun 08, 2013 06:44am

Some Interesting Questions: Are these Ministers and Minister of State Honorary or Paid Public Servants? If Paid Public Servants, how much they will cost to the exchequer, including all the perks and privileges? How long it will take to expand the cabinet to maximum of 35/45 needed to accommodate for their conditional support during the election and in the National Assembly? In ultimate analyses what would the Nation as a whole gain?

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