ISLAMABAD: Four members were added to Pakistan’s new cabinet on Friday, expanding it to 37 ministers.
Thirty-three cabinet members were sworn in on Tuesday, a week after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took office following the ouster of his predecessor Imran Khan in a no-confidence vote.
While the oaths of the 33 were not administered by President Arif Alvi, who excused himself from the ceremony, the four new ministers were sworn in by the president himself.
“President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday administered the oath of office to three new federal ministers and a state minister,” state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
Mian Javaid Latif from Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), Agha Hassan Baloch from the Balochistan National Party and Chaudhry Salik Hussain from the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid were sworn in as federal ministers. Balochistan National Party’s Hashim Notezai took oath as a state minister.
Hussain’s appointment came as a surprise. He is the son of PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain. PML-Q is an ally of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in Punjab and had abstained from the no-confidence vote against Khan.
