KARACHI: The 24-member Sindh cabinet on Tuesday swelled to 34 with the appointment of 10 Special Assistants to Chief Minister (SACMs).

Moreover, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah also appointed six more spokespersons for the provincial government.

According to a notification issued by Sindh Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah on Tuesday, Lal Chand Ukrani, Sardar Faraz Rajar, Qasim Naveed Qamar, Waqar Mehdi, Rajveer Singh, Mansoor Shahani, Usman Hignoro, Abdul Jabbar Khan, Junaid Baloch, and Muhammad Saleem Baloch have been appointed as special assistants to the chief minister.

Officials said that the portfolios would be assigned to the newly-appointed special assistants shortly.

Officials say portfolios for new SACMs will be allocated soon

In a separate notification, the chief secretary notified the appointment of Sukkur Mayor Barrister Arsalan Islam Shaikh, Sarmad Palijo, Abdul Wahid Halepoto, Makhdoom Fakhar Zaman, Muhammad Ali Rashid and Sadia Javed as the spokesperson for the Sindh government.

Earlier, the chief minister had appointed Barrister Murtaza Wahab and Ghanwar Isran Ali as provincial government spokespersons.

The number of spokespersons of the Sindh government has also increased to eight.

Sources said that the both the appointments were aimed at strengthening the political base of the Pakistan Peoples Party in urban and rural parts of the province.

They said that newly appointed special assistants belonged to the parts of the province which did not have any representation in the cabinet.

The sources said that nearly half of the special assistants hailed from Karachi and they were appointed to strengthen the party’s political base in the city. They said that Waqar Mehdi, who is the party’s provincial general secretary, Junaid Baloch and Saleem Baloch also belonged to Karachi and they were appointed to strengthen party’s political standing in the city.

They said that the party leadership was closely monitoring the performance of cabinet members and a reshuffle in the cabinet was expected after three months.

The sources said that some of the ministers would be relieved in view of their performance and they would be replaced with new faces.

On Tuesday, the cabinet was expanded for the second time since it was first formed by the chief minister on March 12 when 10 ministers and three advisors were appointed in the first phase.

Later on April 17, the chief minister further expanded the cabinet, appointing eight more ministers.

On March 12, in the first phase, Sharjeel Inam Memon, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Saeed Ghani, Jam Khan Shoro, Ziaul Hassan Lanjar, Sardar Muhammad Bakhsh Mahar, Ali Hassan Zardari and Zulfiqar Shah were appointed as minister.

Currently, the cabinet includes 18 ministers and two advisers. One of the three advisers initially appointed, Allah Dino Khan Bhayo, had resigned.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2024