PM Shehbaz Sharif elevates 10 SAs to state ministers despite economic crisis

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif surrounded by economic crisis has kindly assigned the post of minister of state to his 10 special assistants which means more perks and expenditures.

On Friday, PM Sharif has given the status of Ministers of State to his 10 special assistants, to whom a notification has also been issued.

According to the notification issued by the Prime Minister Office (PMO), PML-N’s Iftikhar Ahmed, Maher Arshad and Ahmed Khan, while PPP’s Raza Rabbani, Mahesh Kumar, Faisal Karim Kundi and Sardar Salim Haider have been made Ministers of State.

Moreover, Shehbaz Sharif has also given the status of Minister of State to Tasneem Ahmad Qureshi, Sardar Shahjahan, Muhammad Ali Shah and Malik Nauman Laghari.

It should be noted that on October 29, 2022, PM Shehbaz Sharif approved the appointment of Tariq Mahmood Pasha as Special Assistant for Revenue. Tariq Pasha was appointed as the 75th member of the federal cabinet led by PM Sharif.

Analysts said the country is suffering from the worst economic problems at the moment, the foreign exchange reserves are at the lowest level in the country’s history, and only two weeks of reserves are left for exports, in such a situation, PM Shehbaz Sharif’s attitude is like that of a monarch.

They criticised a huge cabinet was formed by the premier and now the special assistants have been given the status of ministers of state, which means that their perks and privileges will be given on par with ministers.

He said that the premier’s own condition is that his foreign visits are not ending, although he is doing all these visits to obtain foreign loans while no significant success was gotten as yet.

Analysts further say that the government is suffering from the severe economic crisis. Winter is coming but no provision has been made yet to save the flood victims from the torment of cold. But it was more important for the premier to give the post of Minister of State to the Special Assistants of the Cabinet, they added.

They said PM Sharif is begging for dollars all over the world, while the state expenditures are not reducing and that tax money is being dumped on the cabinet member and they are being given Ministers of State positions.