Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has finally formed a 33-member federal cabinet, but the ruling coalition still has some bitterness in this regard.
According to media reports, as expected, President Dr. Arif Alvi did not take oath from the members of the new cabinet and this constitutional duty was performed by Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjarani.
Although 33 members of the Assembly took oath, the notification issued by the Cabinet Division includes the names of 26 federal ministers and two ministers of state, besides whom the prime minister has appointed three advisers.
Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said that the portfolio of five cabinet members belonging to PML-N is still under consideration, including Khurram Dastagir Khan, Abdul Rehman Kanju, Riaz Pirzada, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Murtaza Javed Abbasi is included.
Some people called the cabinet the best in terms of selection of its members, including 2 PhD Finance, Dr. Muftah Ismail and Dr. Ayesha Ghous Pasha.
However, the two main parties in the ruling coalition, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), have reservations about the selection of their cabinet members and the division of departments.
PML-N sources said that there were differences within the party over the selection of cabinet members and division of departments among them.
He said that PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz was “unhappy” with the prime minister for not considering the names of veteran party leaders who have a close and long association with the party’s supreme leader Nawaz Sharif.
There are currently self-imposed exiles in the UK.
Sources also said that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif had included only one member of the alleged Nawaz camp, Javed Latif, in the cabinet who did not take oath yesterday.
He said that Prime Minister Sharif’s slogan ‘a suitable person for the job’ was not reflected in the selection of cabinet members as close associates of Nawaz Sharif were apparently ignored, including Irfan Siddiqui, Pervez Rashid, Muhammad Zubair, Daniel Aziz, Musaddiq Malik, Talal Chaudhry, Burjis Tahir, Tariq Fatemi and Zafarullah Khan.
The PML-N’s Nawaz Sharif camp believes that Irfan Siddiqui, who has more than 25 years of experience in the field of education, was ignored and Rana Tanveer was given the portfolio of education.
Further, stopping the flow of rumors, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has not yet joined the cabinet.
Rejected the offer to be made Minister of State if given priority.
According to PPP sources, Bilawal Bhutto left for UK last night and is likely to meet Nawaz Sharif in London to express his party’s and other allies’ concerns over the formation of a federal cabinet.
There are also 2 constitutional offices of the President and the Governor of Punjab.
PPP sources added that the party leadership is angry over the selection of assembly members and the neglect of allies like Balochistan National Party (BNP), Balochistan Awami Party and Awami National Party, which were co-chaired by PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had guaranteed participation in the government.
Interestingly, ANP and independent MNA Mohsin Dawar apparently did not get a place in the federal cabinet due to opposition from JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
However, a few days ago, Asif Zardari had made it clear to Maulana Fazlur Rehman that he was a ‘guarantor’ in the opposition alliance and he had promised one ministry each to ANP and Mohsin Dawar so that he could form the previous PTI government.
Join in the effort to bring down On the other hand, the BNP refused to be part of the cabinet in protest against the alleged firing of security forces on protesters in Chaghi last week.
The swearing-in ceremony of the cabinet members was scheduled to take place on Monday but the government had to postpone the ceremony till Tuesday after President Dr. Arif Ali refused to take oath from the assembly members.