ISLAMABAD: President Mamnoon Hussain on Friday administered oath to 43-member new federal ca
binet as Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbbasi directed creation of seven new ministries, apparently to accommodate a number of new faces taken in from previously neglected constituencies keeping in view the next general elections that are around 10 months away.
Constituted under the provisions of Rule 3 of the Rules of Business 1973, the new ministries are:
Ministry of Energy: will have two constituent divisions namely Power Division and Petroleum Division.
Ministry of Water Resources: will have one constituent division i.e. Water Resources Division.
The business of the existing divisions of Water and Power and Petroleum and Natural Resources will be distributed between the two new divisions accordingly.
Ministry of Postal Services: will have one constituent division i.e. Postal Services Division.
The business of the existing Communications Division to the extent of postal services will be transferred to the new division.
Ministry of Commerce and Textiles: will have two constituent divisions namely Commerce Division and Textile Division.
Ministry of Statistics: will have one constituent division namely Statistics Division.
Ministry of Privatisation: will have one constituent division namely Privatisation Division.
Ministry of Narcotics Control: will have one constituent division namely Narcotics Control Division.
The new ca
binet comprises 27 federal ministers and 16 ministers of state and includes a number of new faces. While most of the members of the previous ca
binet have retained their portfolios, important slots, however, have seen a shuffle.
Ahsan Iqbal has secured all-powerful interior ministry, replacing Ch Nisar Ali Khan, who is not part of the new team.
Khurram Dastgir Khan is the new defence ministe
r, replacing Kh Asif, who has
been given foreign affairs portfolio.
Among new faces, Pervaiz Malik has
been given the charge of freshly created commerce and textile ministry; Hafiz Abdul Karim has
been given communications ministry; Lt Gen (r) Salahuddin Tirmizi has
been handed over the newly created narcotics control ministry; Maulana Ameer Zaman has
been given freshly created postal services ministry; Syed Javed Ali Shah has
been given the charge of newly constituted water resources ministry; Haji Akram Ansari has
been made state mini
ster for newly created commerce and textile ministry; Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry has
been designated state mini
ster for communications; Sardar Arshad Khan Leghari has
been appointed state mini
ster for industries and production; Dr Darshan has
been appointed state mini
ster for inter-provincial coordination;
Abdul Rehman Kanju has
been appointed state mini
ster for overseas Pakistanis and human resource development; Ch Jaffer Iqbal has
been appointed state mini
ster for ports and shipping and Ghalib Khan has
been appointed state mini
ster for states and frontier regions.
While for the first time, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) was given representation in the ca
binet with induction of Ghalib Khan as state mini
ster for states and frontier regions, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) outspoken leader Daniyal Aziz reportedly ‘boycotted’ the oath-taking ceremony for being disappointed over the party leadership’s decision to appoint him a minister of state against his desire to be appointed a federal minister. Aziz did not turn up at the oath-taking ceremony on Friday to be sworn in to his office.
Published in Daily Times, August 5th 2017.