Sindh Governor Dr Eshratul Ebad Khan on Saturday administered the much-awaited oath to an 18-member caretaker provincial cabinet that comprises half a dozen businessmen.
The new cabinet, which the critics believe is unnecessarily large having the potential to cost the cash-strapped Sindh province heavily, includes 16 ministers and two advisers.
The provincial ministers sworn in include Shaqeeb Qureshi, Noorul Huda Shah, Anis Haroon, Iqbal Dawood Pakwala, Khalid Tawwab, Sardar Yasin Malik, Ghulam Qasim Jaskani, Sardar Khan Ghoto, Nawab Kulb Hussain Lahori, Khalid Latif, Abdul Qadeer Chohan, Muhammad Sharif Ansari, Mahmood Mandviwala, Dr Junaid Ali Shah, Shubbar Zaidi and Dr NK Lohani.
Haroon Farooqui and Mian Zahid Hussain would be officiating as advisers to the caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (r) Qurban Alvi who witnessed the swearing-in ceremony held here at the Governor’s House.
Chief Secretary Raja Muhammad Abbas was also present.
In the formation of his cabinet, the caretaker CM took more time than expected as Saturday’s oath-taking came after over a week after he replaced his predecessor Qaim Ali Shah.
The delay, reportedly, has been caused by the political stakeholders who were negotiating to develop consensus on the appointment of the members of caretaker cabinet.
Apparently, all of the ministers and advisers are non-political figures, some being technocrats and others belonging to businesses circles.
Of the 18 inducted in the interim cabinet Saturday, Shaqeeb Qureshi, Iqbal Dawood Pakwala, Khalid Tawwab, Sardar Yasin Malik, Shubbar Zaidi and the two advisers Haroon and Mian Zahid are known business figures.
The chief minister’s decision to include businessmen in the caretaker setup, reported to have been dictated by the province’s major political stakeholders the PPP and the MQM, would draw much-needed support of the traders and industrialists who welcomed the move as soon as the oath-taking ceremony concluded.
In a statement, Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (KATI) Patron In-Chief SM Muneer welcomed the inclusion of business representatives in the caretaker setup, saying the inductees were well-reputed and had a vast administrative experience to deal with issues related to trade and commerce.
As speculators have been calling the shots about the portfolios to be assigned to the ministers, no formal announcement had come to the fore with regard to assignment of the portfolios until the filing of this report.
With the Sindh getting its interim cabinet, it is yet to be seen what size Punjab CM Najam Sethi keeps his cabinet to.
The judges-led caretakers in Sindh would come draw heavy criticism if the senior journalist showed frugality in formulating his cabinet. Sethi has already hinted that at bringing in a “smart” cabinet to run day-to-day affairs of the country’s most-populated province.