ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has unveiled his small cabinet hours after his swearing in ceremony on Saturday. This cabinet includes 16 ministers and five advisers.
According to the list shared with PTI’s central spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry, Asad Umar has been assigned the portfolio of finance; Pervaiz Khattak has been given the Ministry of Defence, while Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has been assigned the ministry of railways.
While Asad Umar was tipped as finance minister since the PTI won the July 25 elections, Khattak and Rashid were both vying for the ministry of interior. Since there was a tie between the two, Premier Imran decided to keep the portfolio with himself, according to sources.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who has already served as foreign minister in the past, has been assigned the ministry of foreign affairs; Dr Shirin Mazari will be the minister for human rights; Fawad Ahmed will be minister for information and broadcasting; Shafqat Mehmood will look after the ministry of education and professional training, while Noor-ul-Haq Qadri has given the portfolio of religious affairs ministry.
Similarly, Farogh Nasim and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, both belonging to the MQM-Pakistan, have been given the ministries of law & justice and information technology and telecommunication, respectively.
Dr Fehmida Mirza, the wife of former PPP leader Zulfikar Mirza who won the July 25 election from the platform of Grand Democratic Alliance, has been made 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, 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. His name, however, was not mentioned in the list issued by the party earlier.
The five advisers are Mohammad Shehzad Arbab (Establishment), Abdul Razak Dawood (Commerce/textile industry/investment), Dr Ishrat Hussain (Industrial Reforms and Austerity), Amin Aslam (Climate Change), and Zaheer-ud-din Babar Awan (Parliamentary Affairs). (Courtesy Tribune)
