Punjab caretaker cabinet sworn in

Cabinet members include SM Tanveer, Javed Akram, Ibrahim Murad, Bilal Afzal, Jamal Nasir, Mansoor Qadir

LAHORE:

An eight-member caretaker provincial cabinet of Punjab was sworn in on Thursday at a ceremony held at the Governor House in Lahore.

Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman administered oath to the caretaker cabinet. Punjab Chief Secretary Chaudhry Zahid Akhtar Zaman read out the notification regarding the appointment.

The caretaker cabinet that took oath included SM Tanveer, Dr Javed Akram, Ibrahim Murad, Bilal Afzal, Dr Jamal Nasir, Mansoor Qadir, Syed Azfar Ali Nasir and Aamir Mir.

Read more: ECP picks Mohsin Naqvi as Punjab caretaker CM

Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi, Punjab Chief Secretary Chaudhry Zahid Akhtar Zaman, Inspector General of Police Punjab Dr Usman Anwar among others were present during the ceremony.

The development comes days after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) appointed Naqvi as the caretaker chief minister of Punjab after the ruling party and the opposition in the province failed to reach consensus on any name for the post.

Naqvi’s name was agreed upon in an ECP meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja and attended by four members of the commission, besides ECP secretary and special secretary and ECP director general, law.

The Lahore-born and US-educated Naqvi is a journalist by profession. He was made the CNN regional head upon his return to Pakistan. Naqvi founded a local media network in 2009 and now owns six news channels and a newspaper, according to some media reports.

Former chief minister Elahi sent his advice for the dissolution of the provincial assembly to Governor Balighur Rehman on January 12, less than 24 hours after getting the vote of confidence from the legislature. The advice had been sent on the instruction of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan.