[🇵🇰] Pakistan General Elections -- 2024

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All eyes on Senate elections now​

Updated Mar 10,
With a new president and prime minister now heading the federation, all attention has turned towards the upcoming Senate elections, with forty-eight members set to be elected in the first week of April.

As per details provided by the Senate Secretariat, among the members retiring this week, 12 are from Sindh, 11 are from Punjab, 10 members are from Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), each; 4 members are from the former federally administered tribal areas (FATA), and 2 are from the federal capital, Islamabad.

It is pertinent to mention that the 4 members of erstwhile FATA will be the last members who were elected on the quota for FATA and now after the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, FATA will not have separate seats in the Senate. Therefore, the Senate will now consist of 96 members, in which each province is represented equally with 23 seats, while 4 seats are for Islamabad.

 

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President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday administered the oath to a 19-member federal cabinet of newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Earlier today, PM Shehbaz had sent a summary to President Zardari to appoint the cabinet, comprising 18 federal ministers and a minister of state.

The PML-N’s main ally, the PPP, has refused to become part of the federal cabinet.

The oath-taking ceremony took place at the President House in Islamabad. The national anthem was played to inaugurate the ceremony, following which the Holy Quran was recited.

According to a summary sent by the premier to President Zardari, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the cabinet includes 12 MNAs and three senators as federal ministers, as well as a minister of state. Three technocrats — Muhammad Aurangzeb, Mohsin Naqvi and Ahad Cheema are also included in the cabinet.

The proposal for the appointment had been made under clause 1 of Article 92 (federal ministers and ministers of state) of the Constitution, which states: “Subject to clauses 9 and 10 of Article 91, the president shall appoint federal ministers and ministers of state from amongst the members of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) on the advice of the prime minister.”

 

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PM Shehbaz’s 19-member cabinet sworn in​

Nadir Guramani
March 11, 2024

President Asif Ali Zardari administers oath to PM Shehbaz’s 19-member cabinet at President House on March 11

 

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Federal ministers​

1. Khawaja Muhammad Asif, MNA
2. Ahsan Iqbal Chaudry, MNA
3. Rana Tanveer Hussain, MNA
4. Azam Nazeer Tarar, Senator
5. Chaudhry Salik Hussain, MNA
6. Abdul Aleem Khan, MNA
7. Jam Kamal Khan, MNA
8. Amir Muqam, MNA
9. Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, MNA
10. Attaullah Tarar, MNA
11. Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, MNA
12. Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, MNA
13. Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, MNA
14. Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Senator
15. Musadik Masood Malik, Senator
16. Muhammad Aurangzeb
17. Ahad Khan Cheema
18. Mohsin Naqvi

Minister of state​

1. Shaza Fatima Khawaja

 

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both Ishaq Dar and HBL chief Muhammad Aurangzeb had been participating in recent meetings on the economic situation, the appointment of the latter as a minister has strengthened reports of him heading the national kitty.

The letter written by PM Shehbaz said that Dar and Malik “shall continue in office as federal ministers” after ceasing to be members of the Senate tomorrow (Tuesday).

Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party leader Aleem Khan and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui are also among the newly sworn-in federal ministers.

Former caretaker Punjab chief minister Mohsin Naqvi, who is also currently the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, is also among the ministers. A Dawn report stated he is in the run for interior minister and has admitted that he would be a candidate for the upcoming Senate elections.

 

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PTI holds Sindh-wide protests against workers’ arrest, poll rigging​

Scores of workers march from Guru Mandir to Mazar-i-Quaid, demanding Imran Khan's release.

 

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The political leadership has yet not been able to agree on a charter of economy for the new government​

The government needs to create a healthy industrial culture to maximise indigenous resources.

 

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Former caretaker Punjab chief minister Mohsin Naqvi will be sworn in as the interior minister on Monday (today) when the new federal cabinet members will be administered their oath of office, a source within the PPP confirmed.

 

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The PPP leader maintained that Naqvi was “Rawalpindi’s man”, who would become the interior minister with PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s blessings.

Naqvi extended all kinds of favours to the PML-N but not to the PPP’s provincial chapter – so much so that it had complained to the party leadership of ex-interim CM’s “discriminatory” attitude towards them.

 

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Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz appears to have preferred fresh faces over old guards as more than half of her eighteen-member cabinet comprises first-time ministers.

Meanwhile, in a somewhat surprising move, despite having a coalition partner in PML-Q, her cabinet did not feature any member from IPP, even as strong rumours suggested the party's parliamentary secretary was in line for a ministerial position.