The government of Pakistan has finally relented its wasteful way and cut the flab out of its bloated cabinet. The new lean and mean composition finally made its debut on the 11th of February. Even if the new cabinet does not signal happy days to come, the move in itself is laudable because the old cabinet was nothing but a symbol of profligate overflow and political expediency. In the current fiscal crunch, the government could not have afforded such a huge cabinet as that too was a needless drain on the exchequer.
Most of the major players and the close associates of our President have kept their posts despite their performance commanding no appreciation, except for Mr Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
In another notable appointed Firdous Ashiq Awan has been appointed to the key post of Information Minister. Cut out to do the job better than most men, it will be interesting to see in the coming days whether she will beat Rehman Malik at misinforming and the other Awan at fire-branding.
Lets hope that the new cabinet implies some sort of new direction as Pakistan needs more than just a cosmetic overhaul of its governance paradigm. Can the old faces bring something new to the table?
USMAN KHWAJA
Lahore
