MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider on Saturday added eight more ministers to his 12-member cabinet, reportedly in an attempt to prevent looming unrest in the ruling PML-N.

The inductions, which came a day after the Supreme Court of Pakistan decision to disqualify Nawaz Sharif for life, were in sharp contrast to Mr Haider’s past announcements that he would not expand the cabinet beyond 12 and would rather go home.

The new ministers are Raja Mohammad Abdul Qayyum from Muzaffarabad, Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin Gulshan from Abbaspur (Poonch), Raja Mohammad Naseer from Sehansa (Kotli), Chaudhry Mohammad Masood Khalid from Dadyal (Mirpur) and Waqar Ahmed Noor from Barnala (Bhimber) from AJK territory and Pakistan based refugees Chaudhry Mohammad Ishaq, Chaudhry Javed Akhtar and Mohammad Ahmed Raza Qadri.

Of them, Mr Noor, was serving as chairman of the Prime Minister’s Inspection and Implementation Commission with the status of minister, while Mr Ishaq was the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.

The new ministers were administered oath by President Sardar Masood Khan at the presidency but their portfolios have not been announced. Although there has not been official word in this regard, it was believed that Mr Haider would shuffle portfolios on his return from a weeklong trip to England, beginning Sunday, to accommodate the new ministers.

However, ruling party sources have said this task may not be as easy as it appears.

They said the allocation of local government and rural development would be a thorny decision, with many aspirants among the new appointees as well as the old cabinet members for the coveted portfolio currently held by the prime minister.

Opposition leaders criticised the expansion, but said it would hardly end the unrest in the PML-N.

“Today, none of the remaining seven directly elected MLAs - three from AJK and four from refugees – who were ignored in the expansion turned up at the oath-taking ceremony, which speaks volumes about the lay of the land,” said Abdul Majid Khan, a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) legislator.

Recalling Mr Haider’s commitment that he would not increase the cabinet beyond 12, he added: “The prime minister has gone back on his words in yet another volt-face on the oft repeated good governance.”

Mr Khan said all along the five years of PPP rule from 2011 to 2016, Mr Haider and his colleagues would criticise the large cabinet, but had trodden the same path themselves.

“This obviously shows they are not different from the PPP.”

After assuming office on July 31, 2016, Mr Haider had formed a small cabinet of nine ministers; a welcome departure from the practice of previous governments.

On Dec 1 the same year, he inducted three more ministers, raising the strength of the cabinet to 12. He also appointed a PML-N lawmaker as his senior adviser with the status of minister – a position created in AJK by subordinate legislation. Three months before the first addition, he had declared that he would go home rather than expand cabinet beyond 12 ministers.

Mr Haider had also helped author constitutional reforms in 2015 that recommended keeping the number of ministers to 25pc of the total strength of the currently 45-member AJK Assembly – 13, at most.

However, sources in the party said the unrest brewing in the parliamentary party had necessitated expansion, as Mr Haider feared a no-trust move against him.“I think the prime minister is now in the comfort zone,” remarked one minister, but declined to be identified.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2018