ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday administered the oath to three federal ministers and one minister of state for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet at the Aiwan-i-Sadr.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif witnessed the oath-taking ceremony. It was the first time the president led the ceremony involving members of the new government.
Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) Chaudhry Salik Hussain — son of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain — Balochistan National Party-Mengal’s (BNP-M) Agha Hassan Baloch and PML-N’s Javed Latif took were sworn in as federal ministers.
After that, BNP-M’s Hashim Notezai was administered the oath of office and inducted into the cabinet as a minister of state. No details of their portfolios were immediately available.
On oath, the cabinet members made its solemn pledge “to bear true faith and allegiance to Pakistan, discharge its duties honestly to the best of ability and faithfully in accordance with the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the law”.
“I will strive to preserve the Islamic Ideology which is the basis for the creation of Pakistan. That I will not allow my personal interest to influence my official conduct or my official decisions,” said the new ministers while chorus-reading the text of the official oath.
The president had previously “complained of discomfort” just a day before then prime minister-elect Shehbaz was to be sworn in as head of government. Shehbaz was then administered the oath of office by Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani.
On Tuesday, 33 lawmakers were inducted in the new premier’s cabinet after they were sworn in by Sanjrani in the absence of the president. A Cabinet Division notification issued at the time carried the names of 26 federal ministers and two ministers of state.
