Daily Times

The new federal cabinet comprising 19 members took the oath of office on Monday during a ceremony held at the President’s House.

Newly-elected President Asif Ali Zardari administered the oath.

Ishaq Dar, Azam Nazir Tarar, Attaullah Tarar, Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Ameer Mukam, Owais Leghari, Jam Kamal, Salik Hussain, Riyaz Pirzada, Rana Tanveer, Mohsin Naqvi, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Shiza Fatima, Attaullah Tarar, Qaiser Sheikh, Ahad Cheema, Musadiq Malik and Muhammad Aurangzeb were sworn in.

The military and political leadership including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and others attended the ceremony.

In the first phase, the portfolios of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Planning, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Privatization and others will be assigned.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) is expected to get two ministries while the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q) will be given one.

The first meeting of the newly sworn-in federal cabinet has been summoned today at 5pm by the premier.

During his 16-month tenure as the PM between April 2022 and August 2023, Shehbaz had an excessively large federal cabinet, drawing widespread criticism with some describing it as a financial burden on taxpayers amidst economic challenges.

PML-N sources disclosed that in the initial phase, PM Shehbaz intends to appoint only a select few “competent individuals” as ministers to oversee key ministries.

They indicated that more inductions might follow later, with members from the MQM-P, the PMLQ, and the IPP eyeing cabinet berths.

The PPP has already declared its abstention from joining the forthcoming federal cabinet.

Nevertheless, PM Shehbaz extended another invitation to the party leadership to join the cabinet. “The PPP politely declined the offer but will continue to provide input on policy formulation,” one of the sources revealed.