ISLAMABAD: Federal cabinet of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif will be sworn in on Tuesday (today), nearly one week after the new government took control.
The swearing-in ceremony of the federal cabinet will be held at the President’s House at 11AM but President Arif Alvi will not administer the oath after he refused to preside over the ceremony.
Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani will administer oath to the new federal cabinet members. Members of PML-N, PPP, JUI and MQM-P and other allied parties will take the oath as ministers in the federal cabinet.
Earlier PPP leader Khurshid Shah revealed that the PML-N will have the majority in the cabinet with 14 ministries. The PPP will have 11, and the JUI-F will be given four ministries. Meanwhile, the rest of the seven positions will be allotted to other allies.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif finalised an initially 25-member plus federal cabinet. The cabinet will be announced in two phases with ministries in the first phase. In the second phase, adviser, state ministers and special assistants will be appointed.
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PML-N is expected to keep the coveted portfolios of finance, interior, information, defence, commerce, energy, planning, and petroleum, among others. Former finance minister Miftah Ismail is expected to become the country’s new finance adviser.
PPP has expressed keen interest in foreign affairs and human rights ministries. It is unlikely PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to receive the foreign minister after he is expected to leave for the UK.
PPP and MQM-P were expected to decide who would keep Overseas Pakistanis and maritime affairs ministries. PPP is eying the post of the chairman senate for former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani.
