PM Shehbaz Sharif's new cabinet takes oath

Islamabad: The Pakistan government has appointed a new cabinet of 34 ministers amid the ongoing anti-government protests in the country following the economic and political crisis. 

The oath-taking ceremony of the new Pakistan federal cabinet is underway after being delayed as Pakistan President Arif Alvi excused himself from performing his constitutional duty — following which the ceremony has been postponed. 

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjarani administered the oath to the members of the federal cabinet at the ceremony in the president's house. 

Last week, Sanjrani administered the oath of office to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif after President Alvi, a member of ousted premier Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, went on 'sick' leave ahead of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader's inauguration. 

On Monday night, the cabinet division issued a list of federal ministers, ministers of state and advisers included in the first phase of the induction.

The list has the names of 30 federal ministers, four ministers of state and three advisers to the Prime Minister.

According to sources, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will get 12 ministries, while, nine ministries will be given to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). 

Four ministries will be handed over to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) will get two ministries. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the positions will be allotted to other allies. 

Those who took oath as the federal ministers included: Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Khurram Dastgir Khan, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Miftah Ismail, Mian Javed Latif, Riaz Hussain Pirzada, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Syed Khurshid Ahmad Shah, Syed Naveed Qamar, Sherry Rehman, Abdul Qadir Patel, Shazia Marri, Syed Murtaza Mahmood, Sajid Hussain Toori, Ahsan ur Rehman Mazari, Abid Hussain. Asad Mahmood, Abdul Wassey, Mufti Abdul Shakoor, Muhammad Talha Mahmood, Syed Amin-ul-Haq, Syed Faisal Ali Sabzwari, Muhammad Israr Tareen, Nawabzada Shahzain Bugti and Tariq Bashir Cheema.

The Ministers of State who took the oath included: Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha, Hina Rabbani Khar and Abdul Rehman Khan Kanju. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was also present on the occasion.

Qamar Zaman Kaira, Engineer Amir Muqam and Awn Chaudhary have been appointed as advisers.