The five Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) ministers currently without portfolios are going to get new ones within the next week, with Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain getting the most lucrative ministry, a source told Pakistan Today on Sunday.
The source said Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was using the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s split with the government to his party’s advantage, as the PML-Q was in a good position to destabilise the federal government at any time and the government’s majority could be turned into a minority with any decision by the Gujrat-based leaders of the PML-Q.
“Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had told Cabinet Division Secretary Nargis Sethi to act as a focal person between the PML-Q leadership and him, and it has been decided that Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain would be allocated the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis, while other institutions are also likely to be clubbed with this ministry including the Manpower Division, Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC), Employees’ Old Age Benefit Institution (EOBI) and Workers Welfare Fund (WWF),” said the source.
The source said Sheikh Waqas Akram would be made minister of state for Overseas Pakistanis and the Manpower Division. The source added that a new ministry was also being created to accommodate Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, to be named the Ministry of Drug Control and the Capital Administration and Development Authority (CAD), which would also look after the affairs of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and polyclinic hospitals. Sardar Shahjahan Yousaf would be state minister for the ministry.
The source added that estranged party leader Engineer Ameer Muqam would also be handed a lucrative ministry of his choice, while Akram Masih Gill would be made state minister for a new ministry being formed, to be called Ministry of Non-Muslim Community Development and Integration or Ministry of Interfaith Harmony and Non-Muslim Affairs.
“The government is also creating new ministries to look after the affairs of those divisions and institutions which are left with the federal government after devolution of the seventeen ministries transferred to the provinces. Other than the new ministry for minorities, a ministry for food security would be formed as well, which would likely be handed to Sardar Israrullah Zehri,” added the source.
The source said the government was also considering what to do with other lucrative but autonomous institutions such as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) currently under the Inter-Provincial Coordination Ministry, while the fate of the Evacuee Trust Property Board was yet to be discussed as the minorities’ legislators claimed that since it was not on the concurrent list and but the federal list, it should be kept under the Minorities’ Affairs Ministry.
The matter was also taken up by the National Assembly members from belonging to minority communities during their meeting with Prime Minister Gilani and the premier had assured them he would consider their request.