Senator Shibli Faraz takes oath as Information Minister

ISLAMABAD: Senator Shibli Faraz on Tuesday took oath as Minister for Information and Broadcasting at President House.

President Dr Arif Alvi administered the oath at a ceremony held at President House in Islamabad. It is pertinent to mention here that social distancing was strictly observed during the ceremony.

Shibli Faraz was appointed Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting in place of Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, who headed the ministry as PM’s special assistant for a year. Dr Firdous had replaced Chaudhry Fawad Hussain in April last year.

Former Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt. General (retired) Asim Saleem Bajwa was appointed Special Assistant to PM on Information and Broadcasting. He was appointed as chairman of the CPEC Authority in November last year.

Senator Shibli Faraz is the son of prominent poet late Ahmad Faraz and is the third member of the Senate to be part of the federal government. PTI’s Senator Muhammad Azam Swati and MQM’s Senator Barrister Farogh Naseem are part of the cabinet.

He was elected as member of the Senate in March 2015 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and was made Leader of the House in August 2018. It is unclear whether he will remain in the position.

The new inductions take the tally of cabinet members to 50 with 27 federal ministers, five advisers, four ministers of state and fourteen special assistants.