Pakistan: President Arif Alvi excuses himself from administering oaths to new cabinet, says report

Islamabad: Pakistan President Arif Alvi on Monday excused himself from administering oaths to new cabinet ministers, following which the ceremony has been postponed, a media report said, citing sources.

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjarani is now expected to administer the oath to the members of the federal cabinet at a ceremony which is likely to take place either on Tuesday or Wednesday, Geo News reported, citing sources in the president’s house.

Last week, Sanjrani administered the oath of office to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif after President Alvi, a member of ousted premier Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, went on ‘sick’ leave ahead of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader’s inauguration.

The federal Cabinet was scheduled to take oath tonight at 8:30pm (local time) on Monday; however, when the prime minister’s office contacted the president’s office, Alvi refused to administer oaths, the channel said.

His move has further delayed the formation of the new Cabinet, a week after Sharif was sworn-in.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Khurshid Shah said that the PML-N will have the majority in the cabinet with 14 ministries. The PPP will have 11, and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) will be given four ministries. Meanwhile, the rest of the seven positions will be allotted to other allies.

PML-N leader Marriyum Aurangzeb, who is likely to become information minister, had said on Sunday that members of the federal Cabinet “are taking oath tomorrow (Monday).”

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Marriyum had said that the PML-N would get 14 ministries followed by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 11 ministries.

She said that all allied parties were being accommodated in the Cabinet, including JUI-F and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

On Sunday, Prime Minister Sharif consulted the ruling coalition parties and met delegations of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and the Balochistan National Party (BNP).

On the other hand, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, being the guarantor in the ruling alliance, vowed to fulfil his commitments with coalition parties on the distribution of ministries.

Marriyum said a marathon meeting of a joint committee of the alliance on forming the Cabinet took place on Sunday in which grievances of parties over the distribution of portfolios and key positions were resolved.

She said the PML-N would bag the ministries of defence, finance, interior, law and justice, railways, information, energy, planning, communication, etc.

PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah said that a joint committee of all allied parties in the government had finalised the formation of the new Cabinet in which almost all parties had been accommodated.

He said that the ministry of foreign affairs will most likely be handed over to the PPP, while the party’s chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is deliberating over the decision to head the ministry, Geo News reported.

“I cannot ascertain whether Bilawal Bhutto will become part of Shahbaz Sharif’s Cabinet,” the news channel quoted him as saying.

Sanaullah further said that the ministry of finance, the ministry of planning and development, the ministry of energy, and the ministry of defence will be led by PML-N.

“The ministry of maritime affairs and the ministry of overseas Pakistanis and human resource development will be given to MQM and PPP, respectively,” he said.

A source in the PPP said Prime Minister Sharif had given all-out authority to Zardari to distribute ministries to any party according to its due share.

He said distributing ministries and prized positions among allied parties of the new government was not an easy task as every party was hoping for lucrative and key positions.

Some of the possible ministers in the new cabinet are Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Khawaja Asif, Miftah Ismail, Zahid Hamid, Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanaullah, Rana Tanvir, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Hina Rabbani Khar and Shazia Marri.

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