New federal cabinet takes oath

ISLAMABAD: The cabinet of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took oath today (Tuesday), including 31 federal ministers, three ministers of state and three advisers to the prime minister.

Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani administered the oath to the cabinet members as President Dr Arif Alvi had declined to do it on Monday.

According to the details, the new cabinet includes 14 ministers from the ruling PML-N. The PPP have nine federal ministers, two ministers of state and one adviser to the PM. Four ministers are from JUI-F, two from MQM-Pakistan, one each from JWP and BAP.

Those who are part of the cabinet are: Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Khurram Dastgir Khan, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Miftah Ismail, Mian Javed Latif, Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Syed Khurshid Ahmad Shah, Syed Naveed Qamar, Sherry Rehman, Abdul Qadir Patel, Shazia Marri, Syed Murtaza Mahmood, Sajid Hussain Toori, Ahsan ur Rehman Mazari, Abid Hussain, Asad Mahmood, Abdul Wassey, Mufti Abdul Shakoor, Muhammad Talha Mahmood, Syed Amin-ul-Haq, Syed Faisal Ali Sabzwari, Muhammad Israr Tareen, Nawabzada Shahzain Bugti and Tariq Bashir Cheema.

Three ministers of state are: Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha, Hina Rabbani Khar and Abdul Rehman Kanju

The Prime Minister’s advisers are: Miftah Ismail, Amir Muqam and Qamar Zaman Kaira.

According to sources, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif contacted former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and asked him to hold the portfolio of minister for petroleum to steer the country out of a crisis.

Sources said the ruling coalition had not yet decided to remove President Arif Alvi because it would need comprehensive support in the national and provincial assemblies. The ruling parties would decide the name of the next president at an appropriate time.