- Shah Mehmood Qureshi will be the country’s next foreign minister, while former Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak will be the new defense minister
- Khan’s cabinet members may increase in number as he cobbles together his coalition administration and caters to the political demands of his allies
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s newly elected Prime Minister Imran Khan approved a 20-member cabinet on Saturday after taking oath to the highest political office in the country earlier in the day.
According to the spokesperson of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, Khan’s cabinet will have 15 ministers and five advisers.
PTI’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who served as the country’s foreign minister from March 2008 to February 2011 under the administration of the Pakistan People’s Party, will once again assume the responsibility of Islamabad’s external affairs and diplomatic engagements.
Former Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak will work as defense minister under the new political setup.
PTI’s Asad Umer, who has an impressive corporate track record, will arguably face the most daunting challenge: He will take care of the country’s economy and work as its finance minister.
Among others, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed will be the railways minister; Shireen Mazari will look after the human rights portfolio; Fehmida Mirza will be responsible for interprovincial coordination; Zubaida Jalal will oversee defense production; Senator Farogh Naseem will take care of the Ministry of Law and Justice; Shafqat Mahmood will look after federal education and professional training along with the national history and literary heritage division; Fawad Ahmed will be the minister of information and broadcasting; Aamir Mehmood Kiyani will supervise national health services; Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui be responsible for information technology and telecoms; Chaudhry Tariq Bashir Cheema will be the minister of states and frontier regions; Noor-ul-Haq Qadri will supervise the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony; and Ghulam Sarwar Khan will take care of the petroleum division.
Khan’s advisers will include a former state bank governor, Dr. Ishrat Hussain; an accomplished businessman, Abdul Razaq Dawood; and a seasoned politician and lawyer, Babar Awan. The new prime minister has also appointed Mohammad Shehzad Arbab and Amin Aslam as his advisers.
It is not clear who will be the interior minister in the next government, though it is likely that more names will be added to the above list as Khan cobbles together his coalition and responds to the political demands of his allies.
Khan’s cabinet will take the oath on Monday.