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Pakistan’s caretaker ministers come with diverse profiles

Pakistan is set to hold both parliamentary and provincial assembly elections on July 25. (AFP)
Updated 06 June 2018
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Pakistan’s caretaker ministers come with diverse profiles

Updated 06 June 2018
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s caretaker cabinet ministers come with diverse experience and are renowned figures in their own fields.

Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Caretaker Minister for Foreign Affairs, Defense and Defense Production.
Haroon served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations from September 2008 to December 2012.

A scion of the Haroon family, he is a renowned businessman, social activist, and former Sindh Assembly speaker, who was a board member of several educational institutes, sports associations, and charity organizations.

Haroon’s career in public service began as the election Coordinator for Pakistan Muslim League in 1970. He was councillor for Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) between 1979 and 1985.

He served as Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Sindh (1985–1988), Trustee Karachi Port Trust (KPT) (1980–1982), Speaker of Sindh Assembly (1985–1986) and leader of opposition in the Sindh Assembly (1986–1988).

In 2008, he was elected as Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, replacing veteran Munir Akram.

Dr. Shamshad Akhtar, Caretaker Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, Statistics, Planning, Development and Reform.
Akhtar has 37 years’ experience of leading multilateral institutions including the United Nations, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. She has also served as Governor of Central Bank of Pakistan.

Her has development experience in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Areas of expertise range from macroeconomic policy management to sector specific policies, legal and regulatory frameworks, development and implementation.

She has advised various governments and the private sector in public and private sector governance, poverty, privatization, public-private partnerships, energy, agriculture, and other sectors.

As Pakistan’s Governor of Central Bank, she was nominated Asia’s Best Central Bank Governor by the Emerging Market Groups in 2006 and Bankers Trust in 2007. In 2008 she was nominated in the top ten of Asia’s Women by the Asian Wall Street Journal.

Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, Caretaker Minister for Information and Broadcasting.
Former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan (2015-16), he is currently the President of Pakistan chapter of SAARCLAW (South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation in Law).

Zaffar is a senior partner at his law firm, Mandviwalla & Zafar, one of the largest and leading law firms of Pakistan with offices in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.

Prof. Mohammed Yusuf Shaikh, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training.
He will hold the additional portfolios of Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony
Shaikh served as general staff officer and instructor at Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul and principal/project director at Public School Sukkur, Public School Gadap in Karachi, Cadet College Larkana and other educational institutes.

Ms. Roshan Khursheed Bharucha, Ministry of Human Rights, Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan and Ministry of States and Frontier Regions
She worked as Provincial Minister (2000-2002) in the Government of Balochistan in the departments of Social Welfare, Informal education, Human Rights, Youth, Information, Population, Information Technology. She was a Senator in Senate of Pakistan between 2003 and 2006.

Her social work includes helping foreign prisoners in Balochistan who are retained in the jails after completion of their punishment due to factors such not having an airplane ticket.

She opened small libraries in each of the 22 districts of Balochistan through the help of non-governmental and government agencies.

Mohammed Azam Khan Caretaker Minister for Interior, Capital Administration and Development Division Ministry.
A former bureaucrat, he served as Minister for Finance, Planning and Development in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KP) province from 2007 to 2008.

Azam Khan also served as UNDP Adviser to the Lachi Poverty Reduction Project (LPRP) for ten years from 1997, National Project Coordinator UNDP, Lachi Poverty Reduction Project. (LPRP).

He also worked as Chairman of Pakistan Tobacco Board, Ministry of Commerce, Government of Pakistan, Peshawar.

As a bureaucrat, he served as Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs, and Chief Secretary, Government of KP from 1990 to 1993.

Topics: latest news in english international news Pakistan

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In rare overlap, Chinese Muslims observe Ramadan with Lunar New Year

Updated 6 sec ago
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In rare overlap, Chinese Muslims observe Ramadan with Lunar New Year

  • Lunar New Year started on Feb. 17 and is celebrated for another two weeks
  • Chinese Indonesians make up about 3 percent of the Indonesian population
Updated 6 sec ago
Sheany Yasuko Lai

JAKARTA: Every year, on the first day of Lunar New Year, Febriani visits relatives and gathers for a feast with her Chinese Muslim family, part of a long-standing tradition honoring their ethnic heritage.

But this year, as Thursday marks the beginning of Ramadan, she is celebrating two important occasions within the same week, in a rare overlap that last took place in 1995.

“I’m very happy and grateful that Lunar New Year and Ramadan are celebrated so closely. I observe both every year, so it’s truly special,” she told Arab News.

Widely observed across Asia, the Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year festival is believed to date back to the 14th century B.C., to the times of the Shang Dynasty, China’s earliest ruling dynasty, when people celebrated good harvests.

In 2026, it started on Feb. 17 and is celebrated for another two weeks. For many, celebrations typically involve elaborate feasts, giving children pocket money in red envelopes, and watching dragon dance parades.

In Indonesia, Chinese-descent citizens make up an estimated 3 percent of the country’s Muslim-majority population of more than 280 million. While most are either Buddhists or Christians, a small minority professes Islam.

For 25-year-old Febriani, both Lunar New Year and Ramadan are equally meaningful.

“The two celebrations teach us to strengthen bonds, to share with one another, and to become closer to family,” she said.

“They are both important to me because they happen only once every year and they’re always an occasion to gather with the extended family. It is also a chance to self-reflect and strengthen relationships with your loved ones.”

For Naga Kunadi, whose family lives in Central Java’s Cepu district, Chinese New Year is all about embracing his ethnic identity.

Earlier in the week, his family was busy preparing for the new year’s feast, which was a fusion of Chinese and Indonesian dishes, such as claypot tofu, meatball soup and shumai, or steamed dumplings.

“To celebrate Chinese New Year, we prepared halal Chinese food at home. It’s also a way to introduce to my children the traditions from our Chinese side, but there’s a bit of a fusion because my wife is Javanese,” Kunadi told Arab News.

Kunadi, an Islamic teacher at the Lautze Mosque in Jakarta, sees both Chinese New Year and Ramadan as opportunities to teach important life values for his two children. 

Upholding Chinese New Year traditions with his family is for him a way of preserving his ethnic heritage.

“We want to preserve cultural values as long as it does not clash with our religion,” he said.

“If we leave our culture behind, we might lose our identity, so this is something I want to teach my children.”

The fasting month of Ramadan, on the other hand, gives him a chance to teach and practice honesty.

“I want to focus on the religious and moral aspects during the holy month of Ramadan, when we practice honesty on a personal level,” Kunadi said.

“There’s always an opportunity to eat or snack in secret without anybody knowing, but we train ourselves not to do that. For me, Ramadan is a time for everyone to put honesty into practice, including myself and my children.”

Topics: Ramadan2026 Ramadan

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