LAHORE: Seventeen PML-Q leaders will take oath as federal ministers, ministers of state, advisers and special assistants at Islamabad on Monday.
The PML-Q will have seven federal ministers, six ministers of state, two advisers and two special assistants. Federal Ministers: Ch Pervez Ellahi will take oath of the office of federal minister for defense production and industries (status of senior minister, and redesignation as deputy prime minister after required legislation), Faisal Saleh Hayat (Housing and Physical Planning), Anwar Ali Cheema (Health), Ch Wajahat Hussain (Overseas Pakistanis), Amir Muqam (Production), Ghaus Bakhsh Mahr (Privatization) and Akram Masih Gill (Minorities).
Ministers of State: Riaz Peerzada (Production), Raza Hayat Hiraj (Housing), Sh Waqas Akram, (Overseas Pakistanis), Asif Tauseef (Privatization), Bahadur Khan Seer (Defense Production), Sardar Shah Jahan (Health).
The two advisors to the PM are Raja Basharat and Mustafa Khokhar, while two Special Assistants are Qasim Shah and Ahmadyar Hiraj. Faisal Saleh Hayat, elected from Jhang, has served as federal minister during the Musharraf era. He is serving as the parliamentary leader of PML-Q in the National Assembly. Anwer Cheema hails from Sargodha. He has served as MNA in 1985, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2002 and elected for the 7th term in 2008 polls.
His son Amir Sultan Cheema is an MPA of PML-Q from Punjab. Ameer Muqam, a former federal minister in the last tenure, hails from Shangla, Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, and is the provincial president of the PML-Q. He has been a close aide of former president Pervez Musharraf and got elected MNA for the second term in 2008.
Wajahat Hussain is the brother of PML-Q President Senator Ch Shujaat Hussain. Riaz Pirzada belongs to Bahawalpur. He was elected MNA for different terms.
Raza Hayat Hiraj from Khanewal remained a cabinet member during the Musharraf rule. Like Faisal Saleh Hayat, he is also one of those MNAs who were elected on PPP ticket in the 2002 polls but later formed a dissident group in the form of PPP-Patriot which later merged into PML-Q.
Sheikh Waqas Akram has been elected for the second term from Jhang. He was first elected in 2003 bypolls on the seat which fell vacant after the murder of Maulana Azam Tariq.
Asif Tasueef belongs to Faisalabad and is a close relative of former district Nazim and ex MNA Rana Zahid Tauseef.
Mohammed Basharat Raja has been law minister in Punjab under Shahbaz Sharif (97-99) and Ch Pervaiz Elahi (2003-2008). Raja hails from Rawalpindi. Ahmed Yar Hiraj remained a state minister during the Musharraf rule. He hails from Khanewal and is the elder brother of MPA Mohammed Yar Hiraj.
