President Asif Ali Zardari officiated the oath-taking ceremony for the 19-member federal cabinet, assembled under the leadership of newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The ceremony took place at the President House in Islamabad, marked by the playing of the national anthem and the recitation of the Holy Quran.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had submitted a summary to President Zardari earlier in the day, proposing the appointment of 18 federal ministers and one minister of state.
The appointed federal ministers included former Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, former Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal Chaudry, former Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and former State Minister for Petroleum Musadik Masood Malik.
They are likely to retain their roles as the speculations also made about portfolios of other new member of the Cabinet including Attaullah Tarar who is likely to get the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Rana Tanveer Hussain, Chaudhry Salik Hussain, Abdul Aleem Khan, Jam Kamal Khan,
Amir Muqam, Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada and Mohammad Ishaq Dar also took the oath.
Additionally, the technocrats appointed to the cabinet are Muhammad Aurangzeb, Ahad Khan Cheema, and Mohsin Naqvi. Shaza Fatima Khawaja assumes the role of Minister of State.
Speculations are rife about their portfolios as well but nothing official is out yet till the filing of this report.
According to Atta Tarar, the portfolios of the ministers would be announced anytime soon and prime minister would address the cabinet as well.
