ISLAMABAD: Four new ministers were sworn in at the President’s House on Thursday, bringing the total number of the Federal Cabinet members to 47.
President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath to the new ministers in the presence of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. Daniyal Aziz from Narowal and Mumtaz Ahmed Tarar from Mandi Bahauddin were sworn in as federal ministers, while Syed Ayaz Ali Sherazi from Thattha and Mir Dostain Khan Domki from Balochistan took oath as ministers of state. Aziz has been appointed as Minister of Privatisation, while Tarar has been sworn in as minister for Human Rights. On August 4, the president had administered oath to 43 ministers, including Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Talal Chaudhry, Saad Rafique and Maryam Aurangzeb, among others. The names for ministers of the new federal cabinet were finalised after days of discussion among PML-N leaders. The Federal Cabinet was dissolved after Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in a landmark ruling on the Panama Papers case in July. He was succeeded by Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who was the minister of Petroleum in Sharif’s cabinet.
Published in Daily Times, August 11th 2017.
