ISLAMABAD: Two new ministers — one federal minister and one minister of state — took oath on Tuesday, taking the strength of the federal cabinet to 58 members.
Acting President Dr Fehmida Mirza administered oath to Haji Khuda Buksh Rajar as the federal minister and Istiqbal Khan as the minister of state at the Presidency on Wednesday. With the induction of the two new ministers, the strength of Prime Minister Gilani’s cabinet reached to 58. Besides these ministers, there are 13 others who enjoy the status of federal ministers and ministers of state.
Haji Khuda Buksh Rajar belongs to the PML(Functional) and gets the representation of his party in the cabinet in place of late Justice (retd) Razaq Thaeem while Istiqbal Khan belongs to the ANP and was working as the Special Assistance to the PM with the status of minister of state.
In the cabinet of Prime Minister Gilani, the ANP had representation of four members, JUI-F 3, MQM 2, Fata 3, BNP-A one and PML (Functional) 2.
Among the coalition partners of the PPP government, the JUI-F has achieved a lot with three federal ministers, while its chief Maulana Fazalur Rehman, being the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir, enjoys the status of a federal minister, Maulana Muhammad Khan Sheerani as Chairman Islamic Ideology Council enjoys the same status while its another member Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri, who is the chief whip of treasury benches in the Senate, also enjoys the same status.
Mian Raza Rabbani and Nawabzada Ghazanfar Gul are Advisers to the Prime Minister having the status of federal ministers. Chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme Farzana Raja and PM Special Assistance Shahnaz Wazir Ali also have the ministers’ status while Khalil Ahmed, Kamal Majeedullah, Asma Arbab Alamgir and Yasmeen Rehman also enjoy the status of the minister of state.
