Home Muslim World News Pakistan’s ruling coalition decides on 5 key ministers

Pakistan’s ruling coalition decides on 5 key ministers

By NNN-Xinhua

Islamabad : Pakistan’s ruling coalition has reached consensus on posts of five major ministries, and Shah Mehmood Qureshi from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) would be foreign minister in the upcoming cabinet, sources said on Tuesday.

The newly-elected Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, who won an overwhelming victory Monday, was sworn in on Tuesday in presidential house. Gillani is expected to announce the cabinet formation in the coming days.

Under the agreed formula, the coalition partners will get representation in the cabinet according to the proportion of their seats in the National Assembly and Senate.

The coalition partners include the PPP, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), The Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

An official from the PPP, who declined to give his name, said Ishaq Dar from the PML-N will be assigned as finance minister, PPP information secretary Sherry Rehman as information minister and Syed Khurshid Shah from PPP as minister of parliamentary affairs.

The interior minister has also been decided, said the PPP official.

The four coalition partners are still discussing the distribution of ministries among them. The cabinet formation process will be completed in three to four phases and about a dozen ministers will take oath in the first phase.