ISLAMABAD, Dec 13: The slanging match between two federal ministers over the Haj scandal reached a new high on Monday as the Supreme Court heard a tirade that raised questions about government protocol and the authority of the prime minister.

When Mr Swati first assailed in public Mr Kazmi over this year's mismanagement in Haj operations, Mr Gilani had ordered both to keep quiet and only speak through government's designated spokespersons.

He also asked Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira to resolve the acrimony between the two federal ministers. However, since then things have not improved, rather aggravated.

Talking to , Mr Kaira said: “It is very unfortunate that two of my colleagues are engaged in such a fight that does not reflect well on overall federal cabinet.” However, he said, it was not unusual and did happen in coalition governments where lawmakers belonged to different political parties.

When asked how successful he had been in making the two ministers sit across the table and sort out the differences, the information minister said that currently Mr Swati was out of the country and let's see how soon “we can have a meeting between the two”.

Sources in the Prime Minister's Secretariat said Prime Minister Gilani was really perturbed over the feud between the two ministers.

“Anybody who knows anything about the parliamentary form of government like the one we have in our country, the prime minister, being chief executive, acts as head of the federal cabinet. And it is unthinkable of ministers passing public statements against each others, but it is all happening here in the country,” said a government's adviser on parliamentary affairs.

The sources said that Mr Swati had full backing of his party in the war of words against Mr Kazmi. The JUI-F, they said, had long been eyeing the religious ministry and taking the current corruption charges against Mr Kazmi as a 'golden opportunity' to oust him.

Another reason, they added, could be that JUI-F's Maulana Attaur Rehman, who is federal Minister for Tourism, would soon lose his portfolio as his ministry was being devolved to the provinces under the 18th Amendment.

Mr Kaira said that coalition partners who lost ministries because of the devolution would be readjusted in the federal cabinet. However, he said, this was something to be decided by the heads of political parties and he could not say who would be accommodated against which ministry.

It may be recalled that at the time of the formation of coalition government in 2008, the JUI-F had sought the religious affairs ministry, but it went to Mr Kazmi who was elected from Rahimyar Khan on a PPP ticket. Since then Mr Kazmi has not been in the good books of JUI-F lawmakers.