ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minister’s House on Tuesday announced the appointment of five special assistants for Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. The newly appointed assistants are Barrister Zafarullah Khan, Dr Mussadiq Malik, Muftah Ismail, Asif Kirmani and Khawaja Zaheer. After these appointments, PM Abbasi’s cabinet, which was expected to be smaller than his predecessor’s, has grown to include 57 members. This is more than twice the size of former PM Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet which comprised 25 ministers. Earlier, PM Abbasi had appointed Sartaj Aziz, Mehtab Abbasi, Amir Muqam, Irfan Siddiqui and Jam Mashooq Ali as advisers. All the new cabinet members have served in Sharif’s government in the same capacity. Sharif’s other advisers such as Tariq Fatemi, Shujaat Azeem, Haroon Akhtar Khan and Sharjeel Adnan Sheikh have not been included in Abbasi’s cabinet. PM summons National Security Council: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Wednesday summoned a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) here in Islamabad. Abbasi will chair the meeting in which federal ministers, military representatives and heads of national security institutions will take part. The council is the highest forum for civil-military coordination on security issues, and is likely to deliberate on important matters related to security. It will also discuss the internal security situation and measures being taken to curb terrorism incidents in the country. Published in Daily Times, August 16th 2017.