As the deliberations over the possible ministerial appointees go on, it has been revealed that Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Khawaja Mohammad Asif were vying for the positions of minister petroleum and water and power, respectively. While Asif’s nomination for the post of water and power minister was explicitly opposed, it is unclear if Chaudhry Nisar would go ahead to receive the same ministry for the third time.
At a meeting of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leadership, a few voices pointed out that the selection of Khawaja Mohammad Naeem on the recommendations of Khawaja Asif as Punjab’s member of the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority had not gone well because he had not been able to deliver.
There is a possibility that the two ministries are merged and given to one energetic and bold parliamentarian who is capable of steering the country out of the chronic power crisis. PML-N’s top leadership strongly believes that the major reason behind PPP’s defeat in the May 11 elections was widespread load-shedding and its inability to provide relief to consumers.
Given this challenge, the party then considered Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Ahsan Iqbal.
Mr Abbasi is a businessman and former minister for commerce and chief executive of Airblue. He is an electrical engineer, educated in the United States, and had given up his PhD in power distribution and transmission for personal reasons.
As head of a sub-committee of the special energy committee of the National Assembly, he had prepared a report on the power crisis and submitted recommendations to the PPP government for resolution of the issue.
Mr Iqbal has a mechanical engineering degree from the Lahore University of Technology and a masters in business administration from the United States. A former deputy chairman of the planning commission and education minister, Mr Iqbal has headed a think tank of the Pakistan Engineering Council on power sector problems for quite some time.
“There is a tough competition between the two engineers for the challenging job of power minister and it would go to one who is considered by the party leadership as a bold and active administrator and a strong performance-oriented person,” said the PML-N leader.