Shehbaz’s 37 cabinet members take oath in Pakistan

After a delay of several days, 37 members of Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s cabinet finally took the oath of office on Tuesday. Senate President Sadiq Sanjarani administered the oath to President Arif Alvi after he refused to administer the oath. The cabinet members were to take the oath on Monday, but the oath ceremony was postponed after President Alvi refused to administer the oath to them.

The name of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is not among the new ministers. There were reports that he would be the new foreign minister of the country. So far 31 federal ministers and three ministers of state have taken the oath. Apart from this, three ministers of state took the oath. Apart from this, three advisors of Sharif have also been given ministerial status.

Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has got 13 ministries and nine have been given to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) was given four ministries and Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) got two ministries. Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), Pakistan Muslim League-Qaida (PML-Q) ) and other alliance partners including the Jamhori Watan Party (JWP) got a ministry each.

Two Ministers of State from PML-N and one Minister of State from PPP were also appointed. One member of the PPP and two members of the PML-N have been appointed as advisors to the Prime Minister.

MPs from PML-N are Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah, Ayaz Sadiq, Rana Tanveer, Khurram Dastagir, Saad Rafiq, Mian Javed Latif, Mian Riaz Pirzada, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Azam Nazir, Maryam Aurangzeb and Mifta Ismail.

Khurshid Shah, Naveed Qamar, Sherry Rehman, Abdul Qadir Patel, Shazia Mari, Murtaza Mehmood, Sajid Hussain Tori, Ehsan-ur-Rehman and Abid Hussain also managed to make it to the cabinet from the PPP.

Asad Mahmood, Abdul Wase, Mufti Abdul Shakoor, Talha Mahmood from JUI-F, and Syed Aminul Haque and Faisal Sabzwari from MQM-P are also part of the cabinet.

The cabinet also includes Israr Tarin of the BAP, Shahzain Bugti of the JWP, and Tariq Bashir Cheema of the PML-Q. Amir Mukam of the PML-N, Qamar Zaman Kaira of the PPP, and Aun Choudhary of the Jehangir Tareen Group have been made advisors to the Prime Minister.

Ayesha Ghosh Pasha, Abdul Rehman Kanjo and Hina Rabbani Khar are the ministers of state in the new cabinet. The ministries of these ministers have not been announced yet.