Shehbaz's cabinet more than doubles in size

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif expanded his cabinet on Thursday, inducting 12 federal ministers, nine ministers of state, besides appointing three advisers and four special assistants, as the Pakistan Mus-lim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led coalition government is about to complete its first year in office.

President Asif Zardari administered the oath to the ministers and the ministers of state at a ceremony at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, attended by First Lady Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gila-ni, parliamentarians, ambassadors and high-ranking officials.

At the ceremony, the president first administer the oath to federal ministers, including Hanif Abbasi, Moeen Wattoo, Mustafa Kamal, Sardar Yousaf, Aurangzeb Khichi, Rana Mubasher, Reza Hayat Hiraj, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, Ali Pervaiz, Shaza Fatima, Junaid Anwar and Khalid Magsi.

Later, President Zardari administered the oath of office to the ministers of state, incuding Barrister Aqeel Malik, Malik Rashid, Kheal Das, Talal Chaudhry, Abdul Rehman Kanjo, Bilal Kayani, Mukhtar Bha-rat, Aun Chaudhry and Wajiha Qamar.

Three new cabinet members could not reach the Aiwan-e-Sadr on time because of bad weather and traffic jams. They were federal minister Pir Imran Shah and ministers of state Armaghan Subhani and Shizra Mansab Ali Khan. The three will take oath of their officers later.

Following the oath-taking ceremony, the government issued a notification regarding the new ministers and ministers of state. Among the ministers Ali Pervaiz Malik and Shaza Fatima Khawaja have been elevated from the ministers of state to the full-fledged ministers.

Meanwhile, the notifications of the appointment of three advisers and four special assistants to prime minister (SAPMs) were also issued separately. The new advisers were Muhammad Ali, Dr Tauqeer Shah and Pervez Khattak and the SAPMs were Haroon Akhtar, Mubarak Zeb, Talha Burki and Huzaifa Rehman.

With the latest induction, the federal cabinet swelled its ranks to 30 federal ministers and nine ministers of state. Similarly, the number of advisers to the prime minister will rise to four and of the SAPMs to seven. After the latest induction, some ministers might see change in their portfolios, sources said.