LAHORE / PESHAWAR: Newly elected members of the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinets were sworn in on Wed­nesday.

In Lahore, Punjab Go­­ver­­nor Balighur Rehman administered oath to the 18-member cabinet of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif. The cabinet has only two female members. The KP cabinet, comprising 15 ministers and five advisers, was administered the oath by Governor Haji Ghulam Ali.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, who has been brought to Punjab from the Centre to assist Ms Sharif, is given the senior minister status, besides the portfolios for planning and development, environment and forest, virtually becoming the deputy chief minister to oversee all major projects initiated by Ms Sharif.

PML-N Punjab Infor­mation Secretary Azma Bokhari has been given the portfolio of the information ministry.

Maryam Nawaz’s relative Bilal Yasin is given the food ministry and her close associate Faisal Ayub Khokhar, son of the party Lahore president Saif Khokhar, is obliged with the sports ministry.

Ms Sharif has picked up three members of her uncle Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet of 2013-18 — Imran Nazir, Khawaja Salman Rafique and Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman — and gave them the same portfolios, i.e. primary health, specialised health care department and finance, respectively.

Since Mr Rehman’s main job during Shehbaz Sharif’s 2013-18 tenure was that of reading the budget speech in the Punjab Assembly, as Mr Shehbaz would look after the ministry’s affairs himself, the same pattern is likely to be followed under Maryam Nawaz.

PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain also gets the reward for his loyalty to the Sharifs, as his son, Shafay Hussain, has been given Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Sources said Maryam Nawaz was not in favour of taking any ally in the cabinet in the first phase, but Mr Shujaat managed to have her influenced from the “right quarters”.

Ramesh Singh Arora, who was recently elected Pardhan (president) of the Pakistan Gurdwara Parbhandhik Committee, has been given the portfolio of minorities, while Khalil Tahir Sindhu has been made the minister for human rights.

Similarly, Ashiq Hussain Shah has been given the Ministry of Agriculture, Kazim Pirzada of irrigation, Rana Sikandar Hayat of school education, Zeeshan Rafique of local government, Bilal Akbar Khan of transport, Sohaib Ahmed Malik of civil and works, Sher Ali Gorchani of mines and minerals, and Sohail Shoukat Butt of social welfare.

The fate of Nawaz Sharif’s close aide Pervaiz Rashid could not be decided whether he should be part of Maryam’s cabinet or not. Since he has been attending every meeting of CM Maryam since she assumed the charge, it was anticipated that he might be inducted into the cabinet, otherwise his presence in the CM’s meetings as a private person and interference in official affairs would be questioned.

Talking to journalists after the oath-taking ceremony, Maryam Nawaz said: “Young and foreign qualified people have been inducted in the cabinet.”

KP’s 15-member cabinet takes oath

The ministers inducted to the KP’s 15-member cabinet include Arshad Ayub Khan, Shakeel Ahmad, Fazal Hakim Khan, Muhammad Adnan Qadri, Aqibullah Khan, Muhammad Sajjad, Meena Khan, Fazal Shakoor, Nazir Ahmad Abbasi, Pakhtoon Yar Khan, Aftab Alam Khan Afridi, Khaleeq Ur Rehman, Syed Qasim Ali Shah, Faisal Khan Tarakai and Muhammad Zahir Shah.

Earlier, a summary was sent to the governor to approve the appointment of members of the provincial assembly as ministers on advice of the KP chief minister. On Wednesday, the governor approved the summary and appointed the members of the KP Assembly as ministers.

The oath-taking ceremony was also attended by members from the national and provincial assemblies, KP Assembly Speaker Babar Salim Swati, KP Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, KP Police Chief Akhtar Hayat Khan Gandapur, administrative secretaries and party workers.

Meanwhile, in two different notifications, the administration department notified Syed Fakhar Jehan, Muzammil Aslam, Muhammad Ali Saif, Mashal Azam and Zahid Chanzeb as advisers to the KP chief minister, while Khalid Latif Khan, Abdul Karim Khan, Liaqat Ali Khan and Amjad Ali were notified as special assistants to the KP chief minister.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2024