By Ahmad Hassan & Syed Irfan Raza
ISLAMABAD: A new federal cabinet will make its start on Friday with a few ministers, the government announced on Thursday, amid swirling speculations about change of portfolios of some from the old team that resigned a day earlier and inclusion of some new faces.
The official announcement about the induction of the new team came after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani hosted a farewell dinner for the outgoing cabinet that was also joined by President Asif Ali Zardari.
All of over 50 federal ministers had handed their resignations to the prime minister at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday in line with a decision of the central executive committee of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which had authorised him last week to form a smaller cabinet to cut expenses.
“The resignations of the federal ministers and ministers of state have been received and would formally be accepted by the president any moment and a partial cabinet will take oath on Friday,” presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said.
There was no formal word immediately about the size of the first batch of the cabinet, but official sources said it could consist of up to 15 ministers, who are likely to take oath from the president at the President’s House at 4pm.
Before the dinner, the prime minister had a meeting with the president to finalise the list of the new cabinet and discuss some other important matters, including the proposed round-table conference of parliamentary parties, a presidency source said.
Officials said there were brief speeches at the farewell dinner both by the president and the prime minister, with Mr Gilani attributing the change to the government’s desire to reduce spending and make governance more efficient. Mr Zardari likened the situation to a family sometime needing sacrifice by some of its members, which he said was happening now.
While the government-allied MQM and JUI-F, which quit the ruling coalition in mid-December, have finally indicated not to join the first batch of the cabinet, legislators from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas have nominated Engineer Shaukatullah as a replacement for two outgoing ministers from the region.
Another government ally, the ANP, had sought the retention of Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour in the ministry of railways, party sources said.
Most political pundits think some of the sitting ministers like Amin Fahim (commerce), Abdul Hafeez Sheikh (finance), Khurshid Ahmad Shah (labour and manpower), Shah Mehmood Qureshi (foreign affairs), Babar Awan (law and parliamentary affairs), Rehman Malik (interior), Qamar Zaman Kaira (information and broadcasting), Naveed Qamar (petroleum and natural resources) and Waqar Ahmad (privatisation) would retain their positions, although there could be some changes of portfolios.
There was also a lot of speculation about the inclusion of a confidant of the president, Faisal Raza Abidi, and Asma Alamgir Arbab, an adviser to the prime minister, in the new team.
Source: Dawn
Date:2/11/2011
