ISLAMABAD Sept 1: President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday administered oath of office to 32 federal ministers of the cabinet of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, at a ceremony held at President's House.
Besides the prime minister, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League president and former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was among those who attended the ceremony. Chaudhry Shujaat's predecessor, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, could not attend the ceremony because he had left for abroad in the morning.
The Chief Justice of Pakistan, judges of superior courts, a large number of MPs, services chiefs and other senior civil and military officials attended the oath-taking ceremony.
The cabinet includes 11 new faces. Among the ministers 19 are from Punjab, seven from Sindh and two each from the NWFP, Balochistan and Fata. Zubaida Jalal is the only woman minister in the new cabinet.
Punjab gets the lion's share of eight out of 11 new ministers, two of them are from Sindh and one from the NWFP. According to sources, about 18 ministers of state, including a few women are expected to be sworn in on Friday.
The ruling PML which was under-represented in previous cabinets has got the larger share, with 9 out of the 11 new ministers, with one ministry each going to the PPP (PPP formerly Patriots) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the latter's tally to five and three respectively.
Nineteen ministers of the former cabinet have been retained while two ministers of state, Maj. (rtd) Tahir Iqbal and Maj. (rtd) Habibullah Warriach, have been elevated to full ministers.
The federal ministers retained from the previous cabinet are: Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Chaudhry Nouraiz Shakoor, Ijazul Haq, Rao Sikandar Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, Babar Khan Ghauri, Zubaida Jalal, Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Syed Safwanullah, Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, Dr. Ghazi Gulab Jamal, Liaqat Ali Jatoi, Sardar Yar Muhammad Khan Rind, Ghaus Bakhsh Mahar, Naseer Khan, Humayun Akhtar Khan, Muhammad Ajmal Khan, Maj. (rtd) Habibullah Warriach and Maj. (rtd) Tahir Iqbal.
The new entrants are: Lt-General Javed Ashraf Qazi (PML- senator Punjab), Dr. Sher Afgan Niazi (PPP-Mianwali), Chaudhry Wasi Zafar (PML-Faisalabad), Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain (PML- Jhelum), Jehangir Khan Tareen (PML-Rahim Yar Khan), Justice Abdur Razzaq Thaeem (PML-F senator, Sindh), Amanullah Khan Jadoon (PML- Abbottabad), Shamim Siddiqi (MQM-Karachi), Ghulam Sarwar Khan (PML-Rawalpindi), Mushtaq Ali Cheema (PML-Faisalabad) and Mian Shamim Haider (PML-Sheikhupura).
Four senators, Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Justice (rtd) Abdur Razzaq Thaeem, Muhammad Ajmal Khan and Lt-Gen. (rtd) Javed Ashraf Qazi have made it to the federal cabinet, the others coming from the National Assembly.
Former ISI chief Lt-Gen (rtd) Javed Ashraf Qazi had served as railways minister in the cabinet of President Pervez Musharraf. He is expected to get the interior ministry.
Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain is brother of former governor Punjab, Chaudhry Altaf Hussain, and the incumbent Chief Justice of Lahore High Court. Jehangir Tareen, a cousin of Humayun Akhtar Khan, has hitherto been adviser to chief minister of Punjab.
Amanullah Khan Jadoon, who has been inducted to increase the NWFP representation, is related to Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. Chaudhry Wasi Zafar is brother of a senior official of a sensitive agency.
Ghulam Sarwar Khan, a former PPP member, who joined the PML before the 2002 election, has earned the reputation of giving the opposition in the National Assembly a tough time with his calculated onslaughts.
With the induction of the new cabinet, the party-wise break-up is as under: 22 from PML (one from Pagara group), five from PPP (4 from Patriots and one from Sherpao group), three from the MQM, and two independents (Fata). Portfolios of the new ministers are expected to be made public on Thursday.
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