Punjab, K-P provincial cabinets revealed

Aleem Khan named senior minister in Punjab, Atif Khan in K-P

ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE: The 23-member Punjab cabinet and 15-member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet were finalised on Sunday after Prime Minister Imran Khan approved allocation of portfolios in consultation with Chief Ministers of Punjab and KP, Usman Buzdar and Mehmood Khan, respectively.

Earlier, the PM presided over talks held at Bani Gala for finalising Punjab and K-P cabinets.

Sources in PTI said that Khan interviewed as many as 30 candidates before deciding that the Punjab cabinet would have 23 members.

The CM Punjab’s cabinet will have one senior minister, Aleem Khan, who was assigned the portfolio of local government.

Mian Mehmoodur Rashid was named the housing minister. Fayyazul Hassan Chauhan was assigned the information ministry. Hashim Bakht would be the new finance minister in Punjab.

Hafiz Mumtaz Ahmad was assigned the portfolio of Excise and Taxation, Samiullah Chaudhry (Food), Yasir Humayun Sarfraz (Higher Education), Mian Aslam Iqbal (Industries), Raja Basharat (Law), Raja Rashid Hafeez (Revenue), Dr Yasmin Rashid (Primary and Secondary Healthcare), Taimor Khan (Youth Affairs), Mohsin Laghari (Irrigation), Murad Ross (School Education) and Anser Majeed Niazi (Labour and Manpower).

Some cabinet members are yet to be assigned portfolios.

They included: Sibtain Khan, Malik Nouman Langrial, Sardar Asif Nakai, Hafiz Ammar Yasir, Hasnain Dareshak, Malik Anwar, Chaudhry Zaheeruddin and Hashim Dogar.

The 15-member K-P cabinet includes a senior minister, two advisors, one special assistant and 11 ministers.

Ministers include Atif Khan, who has been made Senior Minister for Tourism, Shahram Tarakai (Local Government), Taimoor Saleem Jhagra (Finance), Syed Ishtiaq Urmer (Forest), Qalandar Lodhi (Food), Shakeel Ahmed Khan (Revenue), Mohibullah Khan (Agriculture), Dr Amjad Ali (Mineral Development), Sultan Muhammad Khan (Law) Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan (Health) and Kamran Bangash (Information Technology).

Akhtar Ayub Khan is the only cabinet member yet to be assigned a portfolio.

Two advisors in the K-P cabinet would be: Ziaullah Bangash (no specific department assigned) and Abdul Karim (Industries).

Shah Muhammad Khan would be the Special Assistant to the PM on Transport.

The new Punjab cabinet is likely to be sworn in on Tuesday, but the exact date has not yet been announced.