Asia-Pacific

New Pakistani cabinet takes oath

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-02-11 22:49

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's new cabinet Friday took oath in what the government calls a new and smaller cabinet but mostly old faces were inducted into the cabinet.

A total of 21 federal ministers and a minister of state were administered oath by President Asif Ali Zardari at a ceremony at the President House.

Only six new ministers were inducted in the cabinet and their portfolios would be announced later.

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Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was also present at the oath taking ceremony.

Gilani had dissolved the extra-large cabinet with nearly 60 ministers earlier this week after the main opposition party and international donors, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), demanded a downsizing of the cabinet to cut government expenses.

The government was also required to cut size of the gigantic cabinet in line to the provisions of a key constitutional reforms package adopted by the parliament last year. Under the 18th constitutional amendment, the size of the cabinet should be no more than 11 percent of the total strength of parliament.

The prime minister was also not happy with the performance of some of the ministers over the past three years and wanted to remove them. The cabinet dissolution was also thought to be a move to improve the government image.

But the induction of most of the former ministers will again invite criticism from the opposition parties who had also accused some ministers of involving in corruption.

Former ministers who were again inducted into the new cabinet include Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, Commerce Minister Amin Fahim and Petroleum Minister Naveed Qamar.

Other former ministers who again found place in the new cabinet are: Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, Ghulam Ahmad Bolour, Babar Awan, Fridus Ashiq Awan, Manzoor Ahmnad Watto, Arbab Alamgir, Shehbaz Bhattai, Israrullah Zehri, Samina Gurki and Khurshid Shah.