Amid shortlisting: Cabinet faces crop up

Ahsan Iqbal, Chaudhry Nisar eye foreign and interior ministries.

LAHORE:

After securing a simple majority in the National Assembly, senior leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has expedited work on the new federal cabinet and related issues.

According to the latest figures issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan, the PML-N has secured 144 out of 272 seats following the induction of 18 independent MNAs. Factoring in the 32 reserved seats for women and the five seats for minorities the party is likely to be allotted, the PML-N’s strength in the lower house of Parliament reaches 181 seats. And with the addition of its allies in the Centre, the PML-N government would have 192 seats in National Assembly.

Both National and Punjab Assembly sessions will be summoned on June 1, according to top PML-N officials. They say the party’s senior leadership will likely hold a meeting today (Monday) to discuss important issues, such as both Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif’s nominations as the leader of the house in the National and provincial assemblies, respectively.



Former Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah said it is mandatory to hold the sessions of both assemblies on June 1 since the 21-day period following the May 11 polls has expired. He said the oath-taking ceremony will be held the same day, following which the speaker and leader of the house in both assemblies will be elected either on June 4 or 5.

He said that before the elections, the PML-N had decided that Nawaz Sharif would be the leader of the house in NA while Shahbaz Sharif would be the leader of the house in the Punjab Assembly.

Cabinet matters

Out of the five crucial portfolios – namely defence, finance, foreign affairs, interior and energy – the PML-N leadership has so far finalised candidates for three.

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has decided to reserve the defence portfolio for himself and has nominated Senator Ishaq Dar for finance minister. Clubbing the ministries of water and power, and petroleum, oil and gas into a single portfolio, he has nominated Khawaja Muhammad Asif as the federal minister for energy.

But while Asif will hold the portfolio for energy in the PML-N government’s cabinet, he will not be dealing with energy-related matters alone. Punjab chief minister-designate Shahbaz Sharif will share his responsibility to deal with the energy crisis and preside over meetings regarding the issue alongside Asif.

Over the past few days, both Shahbaz and Khawaja Asif have presided over meetings regarding energy-related matters in the party’s central secretariat.

Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif has shortlisted the names of Ahsan Iqbal, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Lt Gen (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch for the interior and foreign affairs portfolios.

According to party sources, PML-N is pursuing a multi-pronged strategy with regards to foreign affairs. In addition to the foreign minister, the party also intends to appoint both a state minister for foreign affairs and an adviser to the prime minister on foreign affairs.

So far, Iqbal seems to be a shoe-in for the foreign minister’s office. Not only does the party not have any other candidate who fulfils the criteria – which include being well-educated, uncontroversial, capable of diplomacy and well aware about foreign policy issues – according to party sources, Iqbal has also received the nod from other foreign policy stakeholders, including the Pakistan Army and the senior bureaucratic set-up.

As for the prime minister’s adviser on foreign affairs, the PML-N leadership is considering former bureaucrat Tariq Fatimi for the slot. Party sources said the leadership is considering a ‘younger face’ for the slot of the state minister for foreign affairs, meanwhile. They added Nawaz will take a final decision in this regard in the coming days.

On the other hand, both Nisar and Baloch are in the race for the slot of the interior minister. Party sources said that the PML-N leadership is leaning towards Nisar in this regard. Talking to The Express Tribune, senior PML-N officials maintained that while Baloch is loyal to the party, he lacks the potential to tackle the law and order situation across the country. An official also questioned his rank in the army, claiming he was promoted to Lieutenant General against the quota for Balochistan rather than merit.

Separately, party sources revealed that the PML-N’s senior leadership has forced Nawaz to withdraw the name of PkMAP president Mehmood Khan Achakzai from the race for the NA speaker. They maintained that party leaders insisted that a candidate loyal to PML-N be appointed as the speaker since the post is most crucial following the leader of the house. According to the sources, the party is unlikely to appoint anyone from outside Punjab as the speaker since the leadership has not come across any ‘loyal office-bearers’ from any other province.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2013.