LAHORE, July 10: Two more ministers were inducted on Tuesday into the largest Punjab cabinet in the dying moments of the provincial government under, what sources said, political compulsions.

Governor Khalid Maqbool administrated oath to Rai Mansab Ali from Multan and Sardar Dildar Ahmad Cheema from Faisalabad in the presence of Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi at the Governor’s House. Their portfolios will be announced later.

The chief minister termed the new appointments a part of his political strategy.

With fresh inductions, the cabinet has swelled to an unprecedented 48 members.

Sources said the decision to expand the cabinet had been taken to politically strengthen the two ruling PML MPAs from Multan and Faisalabad which were being considered important cities with regard to the next general election.

Ministers Dr Shafiq and Chaudhry Zaheer also belong to Faisalabad which has 22 MPAs. One minister, Moeenuddin Qureshi, belongs to Multan.

The sources said the government believed that the two ministers would strengthen PML position in the two cities to counter opposition’s heavyweights in the election.

LAL MASJID: The chief minister while replying to a question on the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa operation said it was started after the government tried all options to resolve the issue through negotiations.

PML president Shujaat Husain, representatives of Wafaqul Madaris and even opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman tried their best to seek a negotiated solution to the issue, but in vain because of the stubbornness of the management.

He said the operation was conducted with an utmost care so as to protect the lives of innocent women and children `taken hostage’ inside the seminary.