By Muhammad Luqman
The members of the federal cabinet of Pakistan’s newly installed Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi took oath at President’s House in in Islamabad on Friday.
President Mamnoom Hussain administered oath to them. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Speaker National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Chairman of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Raja Zafarul Haq and other parliamentarians attended the ceremony.
The new federal cabinet , a mix of old and new faces, consists of 43 ministers –27 federal and 16 state ministers, according to media reports.
The chemistry of the federal cabinet suggests that new government is going to have adopt an offensive policy vis-à-vis critics especially the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf and non-political opponents -Talal Chaudhary, Maryam Aurang Zeb and Mushahidullah Khan have been defending the Nawaz Sharif government during Pananma Leaks case. Danyal Aziz who was also nominated as the minister, did not turn up at the oath taking ceremony.
Furthermore, a new ministry for energy has been established by merging ministries of petroleum and power. This ministry will be headed by Prime Minister himself.
Ultimately, Pakistan has full-time Foreign Minister. Former Water and Power Minister, Khawaja Asif is holding the portfolio of Foreign Minister. Khurram Dastgir Khan is the Defence Minister.
As former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar has been left out of Abbasi’s cabinet, Ahsan Iqbal would head interior ministry, while Ishaq Dar to continue as finance minister.
Maryam Aurangzeb, Saad Rafique and Saira Afzal Tarar would retain the previous portfolios of information minister, railways minister and health minister respectively.
Senator Mushahidullah Khan would be the minister for climate change, while Pervaiz Malik will replace Khurram Dastgir as the new minister of commerce.
The other members, including Junaid Anwar, Jam Kamal, Abid Sher Ali, Anusha Rehman, Danyal Aziz, Dr Roshan, Usman Ibrahim, Abdul Rehman Kanjoo, Chaudhary Jaffar Iqbal, Ameenul Hasnat, Arshad Laghari, Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha, Rana Tanvir, Javed Ali Shah, Baligur Rehman, Hafiz Abdul Karim, Haji Akram Ansari, Dr Tari Fazal, Dosteen Khan Domki, Sardar Yousaf, Moulana Ameer Zaman, Kamran Michael, Abdul Qadir Baloch, Sikandar Bosan, Sheikh Aftab, Mumtaz tarrar, Hasil Bazenjo, Sadruddin Rashdi, Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi, Salahuddi, Zahid Hamid, Barjees Tahir, Awais Laghari, Akram Durrani, Riaz Peerzada, Javed Ali Shah and Ayaz Shah Shirazi also took oath.
