37-member Punjab cabinet takes oath

LAHORE: A 37-member Punjab cabinet took oath at the Governor’s House on Sunday.

Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman administered the oath to the provincial ministers. The ministers, who took the oath, included Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan, Maher Ijaz Ahmad Achalana, Siddique Khan Baloch, Kazim Ali Pirzada, Chaudhry Shafiq, Malik Nadeem Kamran, Mian Yawar Zaman, Colonel (retd) Ayub Gadhi, Chaudhry Iqbal Gujjar, Muhammad Manshaullah Butt, Tanveer Aslam Malik, Jahangir Khanzada, Rana Mashhood Ahmed, Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, Khawaja Imran Nazir, Bilal Yasin, Malik Saiful Mulok Khokhar, Fida Hussain Wattoo, Rana Ejaz Noon, Ms. Uzma Zahid Bukhari, Khalil Tahir Sindhu, Colonel (Rtd) Rana Muhammad Tariq, Ghulam Qasim Hanjara, Zaheer Iqbal Chanar, Zeeshan Rafiq, Sania Ashiq, Syed Hasan Murtaza, Syed Ali Haider Gilani, Bilal Asghar Waraich, Qasim Abbas Linga, Malik Asad Khokhar, Ahmed Ali Aulakh, Sabatin Bukhari, Saba Sadiq, Rana Liaquat, Ashraf Ansari and Imran Khalid Butt.

Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal read out the notification. The Inspector General of Police, Punjab, Members of Provincial Assembly, Information Secretary and a large number of dignitaries attended the ceremony.

Meanwhile, Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has said the large cabinet in Punjab is a blatant violation of the Supreme Court decision

In a statement, he said one person out of three had been made a minister. He said that the oath of the Punjab cabinet was no less than a joke. “The trustee Chief Minister is making a mockery of the Supreme Court order by giving away ministries. Even the swearing-in of the Punjab cabinet and the size of the cabinet cannot save the rulers, who are guilty of unconstitutional actions and should be tried for contempt of court,” he added.