Daily Times

The much-awaited federal cabinet was sworn in finally on Friday with an expansion and slight reshuffling. With just a bird’s eye view of the new cabinet, one gets a strong impression of the PML-N as a fallen-but-not-dead party that appears to be in the mood to strike back at adversaries and challengers.

Also visible in the composition of the new cabinet is PML-N’s yearning to claim a foothold in south Punjab that once was PPP’s bastion but has lately been showing somewhat mixed voting patterns. The ruling party seems to have learned from its experience of the NA-120 by-poll – big money will be used against it. One way to deal with this can be a steel-cuts-steel approach – to counter big money in opposition with help of those with deep pockets. Another approach that the PML-N seems to be employing is to counter its richest of the rich rivals through wisely made alliances. And it is muddying the hands in local politics to make these alliances possible.

The 43-member cabinet does not just favour Lahories. It has accommodated Balochistan, with five ministers from the province. Two ministers represent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Punjab remains the leader with 32 ministers coming from the province. Eight are from south Punjab – a much larger share that is usually afforded to this region. In last couple of cabinets, between 2008 and 2017, south Punjabis could secure between three and four places. This unusual focus hints at the ruling party’s willingness to clean the mess created, inter alia, by its upper-Punjab centric politics over the last four years.

Bringing in Awais Leghari from south Punjab is smart move, considering the gentleman’s talent and performance in his previous stints. It is also a clever move because the House of Legharis was not quite pleased when the Khosas of Dera Ghazi Khan were given importance more than Legharis expected. Zulfiqar Khosa’s cousin Amjad Khan Khosa was obliged through a district council ticket to his son for local bodies election in D.G. Khan. This seat has traditionally been coveted by the Legharis as well.

All in all, a not-too-happy but influential House of Legharis comes back to the mainstream with a bang. While Zulfiqar Khosa, who had quit PML-N and whose son has joined PTI, gets a we-don’t-forget smack.

Though, retaining Rana Tanveer, who was close to the Khosas, may be a signal that the party is not completely giving up on that particular group, and may make some moves prior to the 2018 general election.

Another interesting addition to the cabinet is Hafiz Abdul Karim, a cleric from the southern region who has strong connections with Saudi Arabia. He is the general secretary of the Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadith, whose head Sajid Mir made headlines for his offensive statement against General Qamar Bajwa before the latter’s appointment as the Chief Of the Army Staff. Abdul Kareen is an influential cleric controlling dozens of mosques and madrassas in south Punjab. His mosques are famous their single minaret (instead of the usual two or four minaret structures). His most famous madrassa stands tall with Lal Masjid style architecture at the Sangam Chowk of D.G. Khan. This crossing has direct road links with routes leading to Peshawar, Quetta and Karachi. His addition to the cabinet will help keep the Ahl-e-Hadith firmly under the wings of the PML-N. Prominent clerics of this sect have already started their campaign against Imran Khan in their Friday sermons. Karim’s addition may be a smart move in the short term considering the thinning out of the ruling party’s barelvi support base. But mainstream parties would do well to avoid reliance on sectarian outfits in the long term.

Bringing in Abdul Rehman Kanju is again a move that will strengthen PML-N’s chances, considering the Kanju clan had won the entire Lodhran district as independent candidates in 2013 and later joined the PML-N. One enigmatic addition is of Javed Ali Shah. Nawaz Sharif had been returning from his house when the 1999 coup took place and he was arrested. Though Shah ended up joining the PML-Q and remained their senator from 2006 to 2012, but he eventually returned to the N-League. As a post-Musharraf entrant, Javed Ali Shah could not get any prominent position after the 2013 election. Bringing him in might be an attempt to retain him and his circle of influence for 2018.

Nonetheless, the biggest entry award must go to Mushahidullah Khan. After speaking out of turn about alleged role of the establishment in PTI’s dharna-1 in 2014, Mushahidullah had lost his place in the cabinet on the reported pressure from Rawalpindi. However, he remained close to Nawaz Sharif. Mushahidullah’s return appears to be a reminder to whom Sharif considers his detractors that he is far from being defeated and lives to fight another day. What the constitution of new cabinet could not accomplish disappointingly is gender balance. Staying true to its patriarchal character, the PML-N could think of retaining only three women – one as full minister and two as ministers of state. Marriyum Aurangzeb, the minister for Information and Broadcasting, is a woman of immense talent and knowledge. She was instrumental not only in institutionalising the SDGs Secretariat at the National Assembly but also in formulating the NA’s Five Year Strategic Plan, overseeing the NA’s energy audit, steering the donors coordination group, and conducting a much-needed human resource planning exercise within the NA Secretariat. The NA Speaker was counting on her for all these tasks that had been entrusted on her. Like many of the former ministers of the state, she deserves to be upgraded to the status of a full minister. Unlike those upgrades done on political grounds, however, this time will a rare instance of rewarding performance.

Published in Daily Times, August 5^th 2017.