37 members of Punjab Trustee Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz’s cabinet took oath of office, on which PTI and Muslim League (Q) expressed anger and called it a violation of court orders.
According to the report , on Monday (today), the swearing-in ceremony was held at the Governor’s House just 16 hours before the hearing of the case related to the controversial run-off poll of Chief Minister Punjab in the Supreme Court.
The decision to immediately form the provincial cabinet was taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, after which Governor Punjab Balighur Rehman administered the oath to the cabinet members.
Among them former Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal, Maher Iqbal Ichhalana, former Minister of Food Malik Nadeem Kamran, Bilal Yasin, former Minister of Education Rana Mashhood, former Minister of Health Khawaja Imran Nazir, Yawar Zaman, Manshaullah Butt, former Minister of Agriculture Ahmed Ali Olakh, Saba Sadiq, Malik Asad Khokhar, Saiful Mulok Khokhar, Rana Liaquat, Bilal Asghar Waraich, Syed Hasan Murtaza and Haider Ali Gilani were included. Other members of the cabinet include retired Colonel Ayub Ghadi, Kazim Ali Pirzada, Chaudhry Shafiq, Iqbal Gujjar, Fida Hussain Witto, Rana Ejaz Noon, Uzma Zahid Bukhari, Khalil Tahir Sindhu, Sania Ashiq, Sabatin Bukhari, Jahangir Khanzada, retired Colonel Rana Tariq, Qasim Hanjara, Zaheer Iqbal Chanar, Zeeshan Rafiq, Qasim Abbas Langa, Ashraf Ansari, Chaudhry Shafiq, Tanveer Aslam Malik, Siddique Khan Baloch, and Imran Khalid Butt.
PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry says the swearing-in of the cabinet is a violation of Supreme Court orders as Hamza Shahbaz is not the ‘elected’ chief minister.
Read more: Hamza Shahbaz retakes oath as CM Punjab
Talking to the media in Islamabad, he said that they are mocking the court orders and acting like Sicilian mafia, which is alarming.
It should be remembered that Parvaiz Elahi, who participated in the contest of Hamza Shahbaz for the post of Chief Minister on July 22, criticized the composition of the Punjab Cabinet and said that the hearing on his petition challenging the results of the run-off poll. There is a clear violation of the orders of the Supreme Court.
He said that the oath of the Punjab Cabinet is no less than a joke and said that the trustee chief minister is making a mockery of the order of the Supreme Court by giving him ministries.
Leader Muslim League (Q) further said that the swearing-in of the Punjab cabinet will not save the rulers.
Pervaiz Elahi said the court had appointed Hamza as a ‘trustee’ chief minister and prevented him from taking any major decision that would benefit him politically, a move that would require contempt of court proceedings against Hamza Shahbaz.