Imran Khan Announces 21-Member Cabinet After Becoming Pakistan PM; Know List of All Appointed Ministers and Their Portfolios

Islamabad, August 19: Imran Khan, the newly elected Prime Minister of Pakistan announced a 21-member Cabinet on Saturday. Out of the 21 names announced, 16 will be ministers while five others will perform their duties as advisers to the premier, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) spokesman Fawad Chaudhry informed. The newly-announced Cabinet is expected to take oath on Monday at the President's House. The 21-member Cabinet includes foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi who held the portfolio during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan was sworn-in as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan at Aiwan-e-Sadr (the President House) in Islamabad on Saturday. The oath-taking ceremony took place at 9:30 am (local time) and Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath to Khan.

The PTI informed that it has nominated party's veteran lawmaker Dr Arif Alvi as its candidate for the President of Pakistan. The presidential election will be held on September 4 - five days before the expiry of the five-year term of President Mamnoon Hussain. As per the Constitution of Pakistan, the size of the federal cabinet should be not more than 11 per cent of the total strength of the National Assembly and Senate.

Take a look at the list of Cabinet members:

According to the list shared by Chaudhry on Twitter, here is the list of Ministers in Imran Khan’s Cabinet:

• Shah Mehmood Qureshi has been appointed as foreign minister, Pervaiz Khattak as defence minister and Asad Umer as finance minister. Qureshi was the foreign minister from 2008 to 2011 under the Pakistan People's Party government. He was visiting India during the terror attacks in Mumbai in November 2008 that claimed 166 lives.
• Sheikh Rashid from Rawalpindi has been appointed as Railway minister.
• Asad Uma, son of former Pakistani Lt Gen Mohammad Umer who was part of the army during 1971 war with India. Khattak served as PTI chief minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province from 2013-18.
• Three women including Shireen Mazari, Zubaida Jalal and Fehmida Mriza are also part of the cabinet.
• The five advisors who have the status of ministers include known faces like former banker Ishrat Hussain, businessman Abdul Razzak Dawood and Babar Awan.

In the general elections held on July 25, the PTI emerged as the single largest party with 116 seats. Its number increased to 125 after nine independent members joined it and final tally reached 158 after it was allotted 28 out of 60 seats reserved for women and five out of 10 seats reserved for minorities.

It must be noted that Khan's government will be the third consecutive democratic government in Pakistan since 2008 when military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf announced elections after serving as president from 2001 to 2008 following a bloodless coup in 1999. The PPP formed the government in 2008, followed by the PML-N led by jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2013.

Among the ones who attended the swearing-in ceremony of the new Pakistan PM were Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, Wasim Akram, actor Javed Sheikh, Punjab governor designate Chaudhry Sarwar, Punjab Assembly speaker Pervez Elahi, Ramiz Raja, caretaker prime minister Nasir-ul-Mulk, PTI leaders, Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Zubair Mahmood Hayat, and Chief of Air Staff Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 19, 2018 11:53 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).