24-member Pak Cabinet to take oath on Mar 31

Islamabad, Mar 30: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf will administer oath of office to a 24-member federal cabinet headed by Prime Minister Gilani on Monday. The Prime Minister's Secretariat is learnt to have sent a summary in this connection to President Pervez Musharraf through the Cabinet Division.

According to the Cabinet Division, 11 out of 24-member cabinet will be from the PPP, eight from the PML-N, two from the ANP and one each from the JUI-F and the FATA. The News said the list was finalised on Friday with the approval of PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif. The ministers from the PPP are Shah Mehmood Qureshi (Foreign Affairs), Sherry Rehman (Information), Syed Naveed Qamar (Privatization, port and Shipping), Raja Pervez Ashraf (Water and Power), Syed Khursheed Shah (Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis), Qamar Zaman Kaira (Kashmir Affairs), Senator Farooq Naek (Law, Justice and Human Rights), Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar (Defense), while the portfolios of Najamuddin Khan, Nazar Gondal and Mir Hamayon Aziz Kurd would be announced later.

The ministers from the PML-N are Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan (senior Federal Minister, Communication), Senator Ishaq Dar (Finance, Economic Affairs and Commerce), Ahsan Iqbal (Education), Tahmina Daultana (Women Development), Sardar Mehtab Abbassi (Railways), Khawaja Asif (Petroleum and Natural Resources), Rana Tanveer Hussain (Food, Agriculture and Livestock), Shahid Khakan Abbasi (Defense Production) and Khawaja Saad Rafiq (Youth Affairs).

The ministers from the ANP are Ghulam Ahmed Bilour (Local Government and Rural Development) and Khwaja Khan Hoti's portfolio will be decided later. UI-F's Rehmatullah Kakar will be Minister for Religious Affairs, while FATA member Hameedullah Jan Afridi will be Minister for States and Frontier Region.

ANI