2 yıl önce

Pakistan's new PM Sharif names cabinet

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has named his new cabinet, doling out key portfolios to officials from the two parties that combined to oust Imran Khan after weeks of political crisis.

Sharif's former political rivals are also part of his coalition government. (Photo courtesy: PMO/Twitter)

The Cabinet of Pakistan's newly-elected Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has been sworn in during a brief ceremony.

Acting President Sadiq Sanjrani administered the oath to the 34 ministers at the white marble palace known as the Presidency in the capital, Islamabad, on Tuesday.

Sharif also attended the ceremony. His election on April 11 ousted former prime minister Imran Khan.

Sharif's former political rivals are also part of his coalition government.

The portfolios for the ministers are expected to be announced later Tuesday.

Among prominent lawmakers who were inducted into the Cabinet are Khawaja Mohammad Asif, a former defenCe minister and a member of the Pakistan Muslim League party.

Several politicians from the party of former President Asif Ali Zardari are also part of the Cabinet, including Khursheed Shah and Sherry Rehman.

Sharif ousted Khan through a vote of no-confidence in the National Assembly, Pakistan's lower house of parliament.

Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers have quit parliament and the former cricketer turned politician has taken his fight to the streets to press for an early election – which must be held by October next year.

Khan says the new government was imposed under a US conspiracy, a charge Washington has denied, and which the new government in Pakistan says was a pack of lies.

'Uphill task'

"It will be an uphill task for the prime minister to pull them together in one direction because some parties have local and regional interests, and some have national interests," analyst Hasan Askari told AFP news agency.

"If they handle economic issues, other problems will settle down -- but if the situation worsens, everyone will blame the PML-N, which is in majority."

Sharif, brother of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, did not name a foreign minister but that role is expected to go to the scion of another political family, 33-year-old Bilawal Zardari Bhutto.

The PPP's Bhutto is the son of former president Asif Ali Zardari and assassinated ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, as well as the grandson of another prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was executed in 1979.

If confirmed, the Oxford-educated Bhutto would be one of the world's youngest foreign ministers and tasked with repairing links with the West that frayed under the leadership of Khan, who accused Washington of conspiring to oust him.

SOURCE: AFP