KARACHI, Oct 12: The Sindh government may induct more ministers in the provincial cabinet, particularly from the smaller parties in the assembly, sources in the government have told Dawn.

At present the strength of the Sindh cabinet is 60, with 44 ministers, eight advisers and eight special assistants. With more than half a dozen MPAs likely to be inducted into it from the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, the PML-Q, the National People’s Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Move-ment, the cabinet — already the largest-ever — will achieve another goal as far as size is concerned.

More than a dozen ministers and advisers are waiting to get proper offices and staff, whereas some of them appear unsatisfied with the portfolios they were given after the bifurcation of some departments.

Strength-wise, the present cabinet has left the Arbab Rahim-led cabinet far behind, which was the largest cabinet in Sindh’s history with 54 members, including 25 advisers and nine special assistants. However, the difference between the Qaim Ali Shah cabinet and the Arbab cabinet is that of representative character. Where-as most of the advisers in the Arbab cabinet were non-elected persons, the Qaim cabinet has tried to gather elected representatives from every district of the province.

When Sindh Information Minister Shazia Marri was asked if there was any move for the induction of more ministers in the cabinet and the logic behind having such a large cabinet, she said so far, there was no official word about the further expansion of the cabinet.

She, however, tried to justify a possible expansion, saying that if compared with the challenges inherited from the previous set-up and the workload on cabinet members — in some cases ministers handled three different departments according to her — the cabinet was not too large and had room for further expansion.

“If one keeps the situation prevailing on the economic, political and on the law and order fronts in mind and compares the Arbab government, which was a tame one because of the army-backed rule of General Pervez Musharraf, with the present dispensation, which is democratic with elected representatives from the highest office in the country down to ministers,” she said, “it will be justified.”

She said the Musharraf regime had left behind a host of problems, including the failing economy, worsening law and order situation, wheat crisis and spiralling prices caused by putting off revision of petroleum prices and electricity charges.

The information minister said that due to the mishandling of the situation in the tribal areas, the war against terrorism had spilled over to the settled areas of the NWFP from the adjoining areas of Afghanistan. She said this was the biggest crisis in the history of Pakistan after the disintegration of the country in 1971 and called for a reconciliatory approach among political parties.

“In view of the grave situation, the Pakistan People’s Party, despite having a comfortable majority in Sindh and the centre, had taken other major parties onboard by forming coalition governments, as not only can a broad-based government steer the country out of crisis, but it could also help bring about political stability in the country and strengthen the democratic institutions,” she added.