–Nisar not part of new cabinet
–Shehbaz as PM not acceptable to some leaders
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leadership has finalised the federal cabinet of new Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. The federal cabinet is all set to take oath today at 9 am at Aiwan-e-Sadr. President Mamnoon Hussain would administer oath to the cabinet members.
The new federal cabinet is expected to consist of 46 ministers and state ministers, according to reports.
According to details, Khawaja Asif will be appointed as the foreign minister, while Mushahidullah Khan will be the environment minister. Khurram Dastagir will be the new defence minister of Pakistan, the portfolio previously held by Khawaja Asif. The portfolio of the religious minister comes to Balighur Rehman, while Saad Rafique will remain as the railways minister. Darshan Laal will take charge of interprovincial coordination minister and Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch will take the portfolio of the SAFRON ministry.
No new woman has been included in the new cabinet. Saira Afzal Tarrar takes charge of the health ministry and Marriyum Aurangzeb remains the information minister.
Ahsan Iqbal will be the successor to Chaudhry Nisar as he will take oath as the country’s new interior minister, while Ch Danyal Aziz will assume charge of the minister of state for interior.
Ishaq Dar will resume his responsibilities as the finance minister. Earlier, it was reported in media that Ishaq Dar was disqualified by the Supreme Court from the membership of the National Assembly, but the Supreme Court had only ordered a separate reference to be filed against him.
Earlier, an informed source told Pakistan Today that two successive meetings held on Thursday, at Hamza Shehbaz’s Donga Gali residence, had failed to evolve a consensus on the cabinet formation. The meetings were chaired by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and also attended by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Senator Pervez Rashid, Marriyum Aurangzeb among others. Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has decided not to join the cabinet.
Later, Nawaz Sharif left for his residence, directing his team members to finalise an agreed list with him.
“Junaid Anwaar Chaudhry, Arshad Leghari and Sardar Abdul Rehman Kanju are likely to be included in the cabinet. The decision has been taken keeping in view the fact that the PML-N would like to attract more seats in south Punjab in the forthcoming election,” the source said.
The source said that Junaid Anwaar Chaudhry had been included from Toba Tek Singh which had been long ignored in the past. Moreover, Kanju and Arshad Leghari, Hafiz Kareem, Javaid Ali Shah, Awais Leghari will be part of the cabinet from south Punjab.
The former cabinet stood dissolved after Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the Panama Papers case for not disclosing 10,000 dirhams which were receivable to him.
The meeting also decided that Nawaz Sharif would continue to lead the party and he would be accorded a title of ‘founding leader’. It was also decided that Nawaz Sharif would depart for Lahore in a day or two via motorway where he would address a rally.
The meeting also discussed at length the next by-polls in NA-120. The party has already split over the elevation of Shehbaz Sharif as the prime minister of the country with some party leaders arguing that Shehbaz’s elevation may upset party’s stronghold in Punjab which is key to the party’s rule in the centre.
Party sources said that the Sharif family is facing an internal split over the political successor of Nawaz Sharif and most of the ruling family members are resisting the elevation of Shehbaz Sharif to the top slot of the country.
The top leadership of the PML-N is also mulling a proposal to field a candidate for the upcoming by-election in NA-120 Lahore. The candidate may also take over the top slot of the country. However, the decision is yet to be finalised.
The party’s central working committee would meet next week to endorse the decisions to be taken in this regard. The source asserted that the meeting would also elect Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif as the party’s president.
