ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday appointed retired Lt Gen Zafar Iqbal as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on energy to oversee the Ministry of Energy’s power and petroleum divisions, according to a notification issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.

“The prime minister, in terms of Rule 4(6) of the Rules of Business 1973, has been pleased to appoint retired Lt Gen Muhammad Zafar Iqbal as SAPM on energy, with the status of minister of state, with immediate effect,” the notification said, directing the Cabinet Division to take further necessary action accordingly.

Mr Iqbal has already been overseeing the power and petroleum divisions as head of the National Coordination and Management Council (NCMC), a special forum constituted in April to replace the national coordination committee on prices, led by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.

The committee was formed soon after the Strait of Hormuz was closed following US-Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb 28.

The NCMC now oversees matters related to importing crude oil, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas, as well as exporting petroleum products such as furnace oil. It is also responsible for setting priorities for power generation.

The Power Division and the Petroleum Division of the Ministry of Energy are headed by two full-fledged federal ministers, Sardar Awais Khan Leghari and Ali Pervaiz Malik, respectively.

Advised by international lenders and domestic experts, successive governments have advocated merging the power and petroleum ministries into a single Ministry of Energy to ensure coordinated policymaking rather than pursuing divergent approaches to key issues.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2026