PESHAWAR, Nov 19: Twelve more ministers were inducted into the NWFP caretaker cabinet on Monday, raising the number of ministers to 17.

Governor Lt. Gen (retd) Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai administered the oath to the new ministers.

Caretaker Chief Minister Shamsul Mulk and senior officials attended the ceremony held at the Darbar Hall of the Governor’s House.

Liaquat Tarakai from Swabi who also was to take oath did not turn up at the ceremony.

The oath-taking was delayed by an hour and 20 minutes and military secretary to the governor announced that another minister was to be sworn in.

It turned out that the minister was former Intelligence Bureau chief and former ambassador to Sir Lanka Bashir Wali Mohammad.

Those who took the oath on Monday are: Alamzeb Khan, Iftikharuddin Chamkani, Mrs Meraj Humayun, Syed Imtiaz Gillani, Ijaz Ali Durrani, Brig. (retd) Qayyum Sher Mehsud, Abdul Karim Qasuria, Mrs Seema Riaz, Syed Kamal Shah, Hisamuddin Bangash, Pir Khalid Raza Zakori and Col. (retd) Bashir Wali Mohammad.

From the composition of the expanded cabinet, it is evident that personal friendship and political affiliation had played a key role in the selection, with the PML (Q) and PPP (Sherpao) managing to bag a few more berths.

Among the new ministers, Brig (retd) Qayyum Sher Mehsud is believed to be a friend of Governor Aurakzai and Hisamuddin Bangash is known to be close to the caretaker chief minister.

Mr Mehsud, a native of South Waziristan, played a key role in brokering peace agreements between militants and the government.

Abdul Karim Qasuria is a retired bureaucrat and Imtiaz Hussain Gillani is the vice-chancellor of the University of Engineering and Technology and former caretaker minister.