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According to media reports, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is predicted to form a new Cabinet on Monday after a week-long delay due to deliberations on how to accommodate all coalition partners. Following Imran Khan’s ouster via a no-trust vote, Pakistan’s Parliament elected Mr Sharif, president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), as the country’s new prime minister last week. However, the new Cabinet could not be formed because Shehbaz Sharif wanted to include all of his political allies in the government.
“Members of the federal Cabinet are taking their pledge of allegiance tomorrow (Monday),” Marriyum Aurangzeb, who is expected to become information minister, told Dawn on Sunday.
However, it was unclear whether Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) would join the Cabinet or abstain due to a “disagreement” over the distribution of ministries, according to the newspaper, adding that it would remain a government ally.
According to Marriyum Aurangzeb, the PML-N will receive 14 ministries, followed by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 11.
She claimed that all allied parties, including the JUI-F and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, were accommodated in the Cabinet (MQM).
Prime Minister Sharif met with delegations from the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and the Balochistan National Party (BNP) on Sunday (BNP).
On the other hand, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, as the ruling alliance’s “guarantor,” has pledged to honour his commitments to coalition parties regarding the distribution of ministries.
According to Marriyum Aurangzeb, a marathon meeting of the alliance’s joint committee on forming the Cabinet took place on Sunday, during which grievances of parties over the distribution of portfolios and key positions were resolved.
She stated that the PML-N would be given the ministries of defence, finance, interior, law and justice, railways, information, energy, planning, and communication, among others.
Earlier, PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah stated that a joint committee of all allied parties in the government had completed the formation of a new Cabinet in which almost all parties were accommodated.
