Pakistan: Allies unhappy after swearing in

Islamabad, Apr 20: Pakistan’s new 33-member federal cabinet was sworn in on Tuesday under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, but the composition has left the allies unhappy, Dawn reported on Wednesday.

While some have hailed the cabinet as the best possible in terms of the selection of its members that include two PhDs on finance  Dr Miftah Ismail and Dr Aisha Ghaus-Pasha, but the two main parties of the ruling coalition  Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)  are at odds over the selection of their members for the cabinet and distribution of portfolios.

There are even reports of a rift within the PML-N over the selection of cabinet members and distribution of portfolios. PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz was unhappy with the PM Shehbaz Sharif for not considering names of veteran party leaders, who have a close and long association with the party’s supreme leader Nawaz.

Only one member from the Nawaz camp, Javed Latif, was inducted into the cabinet, but he too did not take oath on Tuesday, even as Nawaz’s close aides were apparently sidelined, including Irfan Siddiqui, Pervaiz Rashid, Muhammad Zubair, Daniyal Aziz, Musaddiq Malik, Talal Chaudhry, Birjees Tahir, Tariq Fatemi and Zafarullah Khan.

The Nawaz Sharif camp of the PML-N believes that Irfan Siddiqui, who has over 25 years of experience in the field of education, was ignored and Rana Tanveer given the education portfolio.

Similarly, PPP leader, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, who was to be made a minister of state, reportedly refused the office for not being given a federal ministry and preferring junior party leaders over him.

Reports said that PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was scheduled to leave for the UK on Tuesday night and was likely to meet Nawaz Sharif in London to express reservations of his party and other allies about the formation of the federal cabinet. The PPP is also reportedly eyeing two constitutional offices  the president and Punjab governor.

The PPP is also said to be upset over the selection of lawmakers and ignoring allies like Balochistan National Party (BNP), Balochistan Awami Party and Awami National Party, who had been given guarantees by PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari about their due share in the government.

Report’s also said that portfolios of five members of the cabinet, hailing from the PML-N, were still under consideration. They were Khurram Dastgir Khan, Abdul Rehman Kanju, Riaz Pirzada, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Murtaza Javed Abbasi.

President Dr Arif Alvi refused to administer the oath of office to the members of the new cabinet and the constitutional duty was performed by Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani.

(UNI)