PM Imran Khan reshuffles major federal cabinet portfolios

The Government of Pakistan on Thursday has announced a significant reshuffling of the federal cabinet a few hours after the finance minister Asad Umar announced his resignation from the cabinet.

The official announcement was made for the new portfolios for several cabinet members. It also includes a number of new advisers.

The Government has named Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh as an adviser on finance following Asad Umar’s resignation as minister of finance, though the released notification still contains Asad Umar’s portfolio.

https://www.oyeyeah.com/news/asad-umar-steps-down/

According to a notification issued by the Cabinet Secretariat, According to the notification, the Federal Cabinet now  includes  25 federal ministers, 5 ministers of state, 4 advisers and 13 special assistants.

Fawad Ahmed Chaudhry, formerly the information minister, would now take up the charge of Science and Technology Minister;

Ghulam Sarwar Khan, formerly the petroleum minister, is now the Aviation minister. Muhammadmian Soomro had previously overseen the Aviation Division in addition to his Privatization ministry;

Ijaz Ahmed Shah, appointed the federal minister for Parliamentary Affairs just last month, would now assume the charge of Interior Minister—a portfolio that Prime Minister Imran Khan had personally held prior to this. Azam Swati will assume the Parliamentary Affairs portfolio;

Shehryar Afridi, the minister of state for interior, has now been named the States and Frontier Regions minister.

In addition to the reshuffled portfolios, the Cabinet Secretariat has also announced three new special assistants to the prime minister:

Zafar Ullah Mirza will serve on the National Health Service, Regulations and Coordination portfolio;

Firdous Ashiq Awan will serve on the Information and Broadcasting Division portfolio—she had previously served as information minister from February 2011-April 2012, And Nadeem Babar will serve on the Petroleum Division.

Prime Minister Imran Khan was mulling over to reshuffle his cabinet after reviewing the eight months performances of the ministers.

The PTI government has faced a great criticism over a struggling economy and sharp inflation, with the rupee has lost 30 percent of its value since the start of 2018.