ISLAMABAD – In pursuance of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) agenda seeking 30 percent cut in government expenditures and right-sizing of the cabinet, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is poised to relieve ministers whose ministries have been devolved to the provinces.
With just 39 days left for the implementation of the PML-N’s reforms agenda, Gilani has started consultations on reducing the cabinet’s size and in the first phase, the ministers whose ministries have been transferred to the provinces would be relieved of duties.
A source in the government said Zakat and Ushr Minister Noorul Haq Qadri, Youth Affairs Minister Shahid Hussain Bhutto, Special Initiatives Minister Lal Muhammad Khan and Minister of State for Local Government and Rural Development Masood Abbas are set to be sent packing.
“As Qadri belongs to FATA and Abbas is an ANP parliamentarian, therefore, Gilani wants to take coalition partners onboard before making a final decision,” sources said.
Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan will remain part of the federal cabinet as she has been given the portfolio of the Ministry of Women Development.
According to the sources, apart from sending non-functional ministers home, the government is likely to sack a number of ministers of state to reduce the cabinet’s size and cut government expenditures.
“Ministers of State for Defence Production Sardar Salim Haider Khan, Education, Ghulam Farid Kathia; Food and Agriculture, Rafique Ahmed Jamali; Railways, Afzal Sandhu; and Religious Affairs, Shagufta Jumani, may be sacked,” the sources said.
They said the government would satisfy the PML-N on the fact that ministers for Culture, Tourism, Education, Social Welfare and Special Education and Livestock would also be sacked after the devolution of these ministries to the provinces by February.
Lal Muhammad Khan, federal minister for special initiatives, said he had the status of a federal minister, but he had no official work due to the devolution of his ministry. “The ministers whose ministries have been devolved are asking the government either to settle its differences with the MQM and JUI-F or accommodate non-functional ministers on positions vacated by the two parties,” he added.
Senator Pervez Rashid of the PML-N said the government should relieve those ministers whose ministries had been transferred to the provinces without any delay.
He said that the ministerial committee formed by Prime Minister Gilani had so far not contacted the PML-N committee. The sources said the PM had kept the portfolios of the Ministries of Ports and Shipping and Overseas Pakistanis vacant, as he was hopeful that MQM’s Babar Ghouri and Farooq Sattar would rejoin the federal cabinet soon.
