ISLAMABAD, March 31: President Pervez Musharraf administered oath of office to 24 ministers of the federal cabinet on Monday in a seven-minute ceremony which appeared to be dull and dreary.

The nine PML-N nominees in the cabinet came to the ceremony wearing black armbands and the sight made the president stiff.

Only once was Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani seen speaking in whispers to the president sitting on his right. The president, the prime minister and everyone else remained grim-faced throughout the ceremony.

Though it appeared to be telecast live, the fact was that the ceremony was aired by the PTV and carried by other channels after a considerable delay and possibly with some editing. It may become the first case of self-censorship by PTV for the new information minister to take up to find out whether the telecast was delayed and edited and yet the PTV pretended that it was live. The other point to investigate would be why reporters and cameramen of private channels and newspapers were kept away.

Sources told Dawn that the ‘precaution’ had been taken to avoid the live telecast of the sloganeering which was experienced at the swearing-in ceremony of the prime minister last week. It was a limited gathering in which for the first time services chiefs were not invited. Also there was no one from the diplomatic community at the ceremony.

Insiders said the ceremony was delayed for almost an hour as PML-N ministers kept refusing to stand up at the arrival of President Musharraf in the main hall. The issue was resolved when PPP leader Syed Khurshid Shah persuaded the ministers to stand up when the bugle was played. And, therefore, they were already standing when the president arrived in the hall.

At one stage, it looked that the ceremony would be postponed because despite a lot of persuasion the PML-N ministers refused to remove their black armbands. Insiders said the president first declined to administer the oath if the PML-N leaders continued to wear the bands. However, when the president was informed that the PML-N members were refusing to take off the band, he reluctantly decided to administer the oath.