PDM govt falls short of portfolios, number of cabinet members reaches 62

ISLAMABAD: Under the pressure of accommodating all the political parties of the ruling coalition, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the number of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet has increased to 62.

Former PM Imran Khan left the 52-member cabinet, whereas, the premier Shehbaz Sharif had earlier announced that there will be no further expansion in the cabinet as part of austerity measures, but even after that, the trend of increasing the number of cabinet members continued, according to Daily Jang.

The prime minister has appointed Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan, Rubina Irfan and Malik Abdul Ghaffar Dogar as special assistants. In a recent addition, one more special assistant was included in the federal cabinet, taking the number of members to 62.

Currently, the number of federal ministers is 34 and the number of federal ministries is 33, whereas, Javed Latif has been serving as a federal minister without any portfolio for many months.

Since there is no ministry, Chaudhry Salik Hussain was not given the portfolio of any federal ministry or division, but the portfolio of the investment board.

Similarly, among the two divisions of the Ministry of Energy, Khurram Dastgir was given the portfolio of the Power Division, while the Federal Minister of the Petroleum Division was still vacant. Musaddik Malik was given the portfolio of the Minister of State.

Khawaja Saad Rafique also holds the portfolio of the aviation division including the Ministry of Railways, the number of special assistants to the Prime Minister has increased to 17 and only three have portfolios and the remaining 14 special assistants have no portfolio at all. There are seven ministers of state and five advisers.

At the time of Imran Khan’s resignation as Prime Minister, there were 25 federal ministers, state ministers and advisers four each and 19 special assistants.