Who are new ministers Mian Misbah, Khalid Lodhi

ISLAMABAD: Mian Misbahur Rehman inducted in the caretaker federal cabinet along with Lt-Gen (R) Khalid Naeem Lodhi has interesting political background and family relations.

He is and has all along been associated with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). He has contested different elections from its platform from Lahore.

Misbahur Rehman’s wife Yasmeen Rehman is the sister of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Pervez Malik, former attorney general Malik Qayyum and famous senior doctor Javed Akram, who served as the executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Islamabad during the tenure of the previous government.

Pervez Malik and his wife Shaista were members of the outgoing National Assembly. Malik is vying for a Lahore seat while his spouse has been selected by the PML-N for a special woman’s seat.

Yasmeen Rehman was the PPP member of the National Assembly in 2008-2013 and has been participating in current affairs programmes of various TV channels. She was a soft-spoken, low profile, sober and decent lady, who has been doing her homework as parliamentarian. Both the husband and wife have been close to slain Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari.

Misbahur Rehman is brother of know Muslim Leaguer and former mayor of Lahore Mian Shujaur Rehman and uncle of outgoing federal minister for excise, taxation and narcotics control Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman.

Misbahur Rehman’s two sons are married to two daughters of Supreme Court Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar.

Misbahur Rehman is considered an important member of the Lahore elite. He is a noted figure of the Arian clan.

He has been president of the Lahore Gymkhana Club more than once. He always sponsors a panel in its periodical elections. In Lahore circles, he is known as “Gymkhana”, the club where he spends a lot of his time.

Misbahur Rehman serves as director of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, where he also used to hold the post of chairman. He remained chairman of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, the president of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and member of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry managing committee. He is also a member of the governing body of the Workers' Welfare Fund of the Ministry of Labour and Manpower.

Khalid Naeem Lodhi is a former defence secretary. His last army assignment was the Bahawalpur Corps commander. He retired in March 2011. He has been a frequent participant in TV talk shows and his viewpoint is known to everyone.

Lodhi was stated to be a confidant of the then Chief of Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. He had to leave the position of the defence secretary when asked by the then prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani amid tension between the civilian government and military leadership over the ‘memogate’ scandal. At the time, the Prime Minister’s Office had issued a statement saying that "Lodhi was dismissed for gross misconduct and illegal action… and for creating misunderstanding between institutions."