ISLAMABAD, Nov 16: Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro and his 24-member cabinet were sworn in by President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Friday.

The oath-taking ceremony held at the Aiwan-i-Sadr was attended by outgoing prime minister Shaukat Aziz, members of his cabinet, National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain, governors and provincial chief ministers, services chiefs, senators, federal secretaries, political leaders, diplomats and civil and military officials.

Many of the cabinet members have served as ministers in Gen Pervez Musharraf’s caretaker cabinet before the 2002 general election.

Leading industrialist Shahzada Alam Monnoo has been appointed minister for commerce, trade and industry, Barrister Habibur Rehman for communications, Sikander Jogezai for culture and Dr Salim Abbas Jillani for defence and defence production.

Dr Salman Shah, who had been adviser to Mr Aziz on finance, takes charge of the ministry of finance, economic affairs, revenue and statistics.

Dr Shamsh K. Lakha of the Aga Khan Foundation has the portfolio of education, science and technology and Wajid H. Bokhari of environment, local government and rural development.

Prince Essa Jan is the minister for food, agriculture and livestock and former foreign secretary Inamul Haque for foreign affairs.

Nisar Ali Khan has the portfolio of housing and works, human rights activist Ansar Burney of human rights and former PPP leader Salman Taseer of industries, production and special initiatives.

Nisar A. Memon, who had replaced Javed Jabbar as the caretaker information minister in 2002, has been given the same portfolio.

The appointment of Dr Abdullah Riar as minister for information technology surprised many because the former PPP senator whose term as member of the upper house expired in March was a severe critic of government policies.

Former defence secretary Lt-Gen (retd) Hamid Nawaz Khan is the minister for interior and narcotics and Abbas Sarfraz for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas, the portfolio he held in the 2002 caretaker set-up.

Nisar Ghumman is the minister for labour, manpower and overseas Pakistanis and Syed Afzal Haider for law, justice and parliamentary affairs.

Raja Tridev Roy has been given the portfolio of minorities affairs, Ahsanullah Khan of petroleum and natural resources, Dr Fahim Ansari of ports and shipping and Khawaja Attaullah Taunsa Sharif of religious affairs, Zakat and Ushr.

Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, vice-chairman of the National Volunteer Movement, who was one of the counsel who had represented the federation before a Supreme Court bench to defend a presidential reference against Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, has been appointed minister for tourism and youth affairs. Dr Shahida Jamil, who served as caretaker minister for law and justice in 2002, is this time minister for women development, social welfare and special education.

Addressing the ministers, President Gen Musharraf claimed that despite being in uniform he had introduced true democracy in the country. “I introduced real democracy; the assemblies have completed their terms, twice we had elections of local government, National Assembly, Senate and the provincial assemblies, with their cabinets functioning smoothly.

“We have empowered the people today through the local government system, we have empowered the women of the country by giving them reserved seats and they can also contest elections on general seats.”

The president said: “We have empowered the minorities by giving them joint electorate, in addition to reserved seats in parliament.”

He urged the caretaker prime minister and his cabinet to ensure continuity and consistency of policies of the outgoing government.

“Today we are creating history. Pakistan has never seen such a smooth transition of government,” he remarked.

Gen Musharraf claimed that the government had given freedom to the media and allowed freedom of expression.