ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet of the newly elected interim Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, consisting of 28 federal and 18 state ministers took oath on Friday in Islamabad.
President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath to the newly inducted members in a ceremony held at the Aiwan-e-Sadar.
A 47-member cabinet was agreed on by the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leadership but due to Daniyal Aziz’s refusal to take oath, the number stood at 46.
According to various reports, Daniyal Aziz was set to take the Federal Minister’s portfolio but when he arrived at the oath taking ceremony he noticed that he was being given the State Minister’s role which angered him and he refused to take oath on the ocassion.
The key changes in the ministries are as follows:
Chaudhary Nisar has been replaced by Ahsan Iqbal at the Interior Ministries position, Khawaja Asif has taken control of the Foreign Ministry.
Meanwhile Ishaq Dar stays as the country’s Finance Minister.
It is pertinent to mention here that the previous cabinet stood dissolved after Nawaz Sharif was disqualified upon charges of not revealing a potential 10,000 dirhams that were receivable to him.
The cabinet members and their portfolios are listed below:
- Ishaq Dar, Minister of Finance
- Khawaja Asif, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs
- Ahsan Iqbal, Interior Minister
- Khurram Dastgir, Defense Minister
- Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, Minister for Religious Affairs
- Saad Rafique: Minister of Railways
- Sheikh Aftab, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs
- Abdul Qadir Baloch, Minister of SAFRON
- Baleegh Ur Rehman, Minister of Education and Training
- Akram Durrani, Minister of Housing
- Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination
- Mushahid Ullah, Minister of Climate Change
- Kamran Michael, Minister for Ports and Shipping.
Others who were sworn in as federal ministers include Parvaiz Malik, Mumtaz Ahmed Tarar, Barjees Tahir, Salahuddin Tirmizi, Rana Tanveer and Zahid Hamid.
While Ministers of State are as follows:
Marriyum Aurangzeb, Anusha Rahman, Talal Chuadhry, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Mohsin Shah Nawaz Ranjha, Pir Ameer ul Hasnat, Jam Kamal Khan, Barrister Usman Ibrahim, Junaid Anwaar Chaudhry, Abdul Rehman Kanjo, Awais Leghari, Ghalib Khan, Dostain Khan, Chaudhry Jafar Iqbal and Ayaz Shirazi.
The ceremony was attended by parliamentarians, diplomats and other senior officials.
