28 new ministers to join Cabinet

ISLAMABAD - The names of the federal and state ministers to be inducted in the federal cabinet were finalized and they would be administered oath of their new assignment here at President House on Monday (today) by President Asif Ali Zardari. But at eleventh hour MQM leadership decided to stay away from joining the Federal Cabinet but the MQM leadership was not available for comments. However, the sources in the party disclosed that as the demands of the MQM regarding the portfolio of their choice was not met the central leadership of the party decided to stay away from the process. The list of fresh entrants in the Federal Cabinet were decided in consultation with the coalition partners but till filing of this report the names of the Muttahida Qoumi Movement MPs were not given because the MQM Rabata Committee meeting was in progress in London under the head of their Quaid Altaf Hussain. In the evening Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani had called the meeting of the senior party leadership at dinner at Prime Minister House where the would-be ministers and the sitting cabinet members from the party were invited to spruce up the list of the candidates to be taken in what generally believed as the final phase of induction in the federal cabinet. The sources privy to the developments of the meeting disclosed that some of the senior members of the party had raised objection over the list of the PPP federal and state ministers prepared by the government and on their insistence some more PPP MPs names were included in the list. According to the sources in all some 26 to 28 new ministers would take oath on Monday (today) with some 16 to 18 members of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party made part of the list of the federal and state ministers to be inducted in the federal cabinet. Some three to four ministries would be doled out to MQM while JUI(F) and ANP would get another couple of berths in the cabinet.FATA members would also get another slot. Though some party leaders insisted that Makhdoom Amin Fahim's name was on top of the list with the status of senior minister while some close confederates of the Makhdoom from Hala said that he would not join the cabinet and that was the reason he was not here and was staying in Dubai. The other PPP MPs to be inducted as ministers included Aftab Shaban Merani, Mir Hazar Khan Bejarani, Dr. Babar Awan, Nabeel Gabol, Ejaz Jakhrani, Tasneem Qureshi, Qayyum Jatoi, Nawab Sabeer Wasir, Rana Farooq Saeed, Samina Khalid Ghurki, Mahreen Bhutto, Aftab Jeelani, Mahreen Anwar Raja,Foozia Wahab, Ms Azra Afzal Peecho and Sameena Ghurki. From JUI(F) Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and Senator Talha while from ANP Arbab Zahir Khan and Masood Abbass Khan would be inducted in the Federal Cabinet. MQM would likely get three to four places in the federal cabinet and the sources in the party were listing the names of Haider Abbass Rizvi, Wasim Akhtar, Khush Bakhat Shujaat and Babar Ghori as the most likely candidates to be nominated by the party. In the Rabata Committee meeting which was just concluded in London under the chair of its Quaid Altaf Hussain it was decided not to be part of the Federal Cabinet and the decision of the party leadership was conveyed to the Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. The dispute over the portfolios and number of ministries to be given to MQM was in dispute with the ruling PPP for past couple of months and the row was there till the last which pushed the MQM to take the extreme decision not to become part of the Federal Government. From FATA there was a close contest for the single portfolio among Kamran Khan, Noorul Haq Qadari, Abdul Razaq Khan and Akhunzada Chattan and anyone of these MPs would be inducted in the cabinet. The sources in the ruling PPP said that besides the laying off of the additional portfolios by the sitting ministers, some of the main portfolios of these ministers would also be changed. These sources further said that the advisors to PM on religious affairs and industries Hamid Saeed Kazami and Mian Manzoor Wattoo respectively would also take oath on Monday and they would be inducted as full-fledged federal ministers in the cabinet.