Daily Times

Hours after the swearing-in ceremony, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday unveiled his 21-member team, comprising 16 ministers and five advisers.

According to a list shared by Prime Minister House’s media cell, Asad Umar has been assigned the portfolio of finance, revenue and economic affairs; Pervaiz Khattak has been given the ministry of defence, and Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has been assigned the ministry of railways.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who has already served as foreign minister during the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) regime, has been assigned the ministry of foreign affairs; Dr Shireen Mazari will be the minister for human rights; party spokesman Fawad Chaudhry will serve as minister for information and broadcasting; Shafqat Mehmood will look after the ministry of federal education and professional training as well as national history and literary heritage; while Noor-ul-Haq Qadri has been allotted the portfolio of the ministry of religious affairs and interfaith harmony.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) lawmakers Farogh Nasim and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui have been given the ministries of law and justice and information technology and telecommunication respectively.

Dr Fehmida Mirza, the wife of former PPP leader Zulfikar Mirza who won the July 25 general election from the platform of Grand Democratic Alliance, has been made the minister for inter-provincial coordination.

Chaudhry Tariq Bashir Cheema has been named minister for states and frontier regions; Aamir Mehmood Kiyani has been assigned the portfolio of ministry of national health services, regulations and coordination, while Zubaida Jalal will be the minister for defence production.

The portfolio of Water Resources Ministry will be given to Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, according to Radio Pakistan.

The five advisers are Muhammad Shehzad Arbab (establishment), Abdul Razak Dawood (commerce/textile industry & production/investment), Dr Ishrat Hussain (institutional reforms and austerity), Amin Aslam (climate change), and Babar Awan (parliamentary affairs).

Pervaiz Khattak and Sheikh Rashid were both vying for the ministry of interior. Since there was a tie between the two, Imran Khan decided to keep the portfolio with himself.

Published in Daily Times, August 19^th 2018.