MUZAFFARABAD: Newly-inducted 18 ministers of the Azad Jammu &
Kashmir cabinet took oath of their office Tuesday at a ceremony held on
the lawn of the Legislative Assembly.
President of the state
Raja Zulqurnain Haider took oath from the new entrants in the AJK
cabinet. Before the oath-taking Secretary Services Riaz Akhtar Chaudhry
read out the notification of the names of the new members of the state
cabinet. There was, however, no mention of their portfolios.
Those
who took the oath of their office included Ch Arshad, Sardar Qamar
Zaman, Ch Latif Akbar, Pervaiz Ashraf, Mian Abdul Waheed, Ch Ali Shan
Soni, Abdul Majid Khan, Abar Ibrahim, Akhtar Hussain Rabbani, Ch
Rashid, Abdul Salam Butt, Akhtar Shahid, Matloob Inqalabi, Javed Iqbal
Badhnawi,Zaheer Gilani, Faisal Mumtaz Rathor, Bazal Naqvi and Sardar
Javed Ayub.
According to sources, four names were removed from
the list just moments before the oath taking. They were Shazia Akbar,
Pir Atiqur Rehman, Tahir Khokar and Barrister Sultan.
After the
oath taking, Prime Minister AJK Ch Abdul Majeed and PPP General
Secretary Jahangir Badr while addressing a joint press conference
announced the portfolios of the ministers. According to them Sardar
Qamar was given Health Ministry, Ch Arshad Electricity; Mian Wahid,
Education; Matloob Inqalabi Education Colleges; Mian Badhanwi, Food;
Majid Khan, Rehabilitation; Bazil Naqvi, Information; Pervaiz Ashraf,
Housing; Abdul Salam Butt, civil defence; Javed Ayub, Forestry; Ali
Shan Soni, Revenue; Akbar Ibrahim, Industries; Ch Latif Akbar, Finance
& PNDP; Akhtar Rabbani, Agriculture; Akhtar Shahid, Auqaf; Ch
Rashid, roads networks and Zaheer Gilani, Law. Online
