NEW DELHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who was being projected as the next foreign minister, chose not to join the Cabinet. He was present at the Oath ceremony on Tuesday as nine members of his party were sworn in, including Sherry Rehman. It is learned that Bhutto may join the Cabinet at a later date.
Thirty-one federal ministers, three ministers of state and three advisors took oath in Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif’s, Cabinet. The new Cabinet consists members of allied political parties.
Those who took oath included 14 ministers from Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-B), nine from Pakistan Peoples Party, and four from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, amongst others.
Sharif took over as the new PM after Imran Khan was removed in a no-confidence motion on April 11.
Hina Rabbani Khar, 44, is slated to be the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. This will be Khar’s second stint as Foreign Minister as she was the FM from 2008 to 2011 under the leadership of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani The swearing-in of the new cabinet got delayed amidst talks over ministerial berths among the ruling coalition led by Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
President Arif Alvi, who was to administer the oath to the new cabinet, went on leave on Monday citing health issues. This pushed the swearing-in by a day. Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani presided over the ceremony at the Presidency and administered the oath to the new Cabinet.
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The cabinet formation took more than a week after Sharif assumed his charge as the Prime Minister. Sharif is said to have held consultations with his allies for the distribution of ministries.
Meanwhile, some allies are unhappy with the new list of ministers while some are staging protests for their own issues. Balochistan National Party (BNP) has stayed away from the process as they have accused the government of not controlling violence in Balochistan.
Similarly, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has demanded immediate general elections as he was unhappy with the distribution of ministries. Meanwhile, Hamza Shehbaz Sharif, son of the incumbent prime minister, was elected as chief minister of Punjab on Apr.16 in a controversial provincial assembly vote.
Governor of Punjab Omar Sarfraz Cheema, from Imran Khan’s PTI, refused to administer the oath to the chief minister due to rules violations in his election. The Governor has been dismissed, but President Alvi is yet to sign the dismissal summary.