With eyes set on political horizon, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has expanded his Cabinet by adding four new ministers, and effecting substantial reshuffle in some key areas where failures were too obvious.
He has replaced Sheikh Rashid with Muhammad Ali Durrani as information minister and Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli with Tariq Azeem in the hope to mend fences with the national media.
Sheikh Rashid now takes over Railways as minister. "I will try making this high risk travel system safe", he told reporters shortly after the Cabinet shuffling was announced.
All sixty-plus members of Shaukat Aziz's Cabinet have been retained, thereby suggesting that, given the precarious power balance in the parliament, the government would not take the risk of rocking the boat now that the general elections are in sight.
In fact, two new ministries--inter-provincial coordination, and political affairs-have been created, and these would be given to ministers from NWFP, suggesting that the Centre might challenge the viability of MMA government in that province.
President General Pervez Musharraf administered oath to six federal ministers and three ministers of state. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was also present at the oath-taking ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr.
The oath-taking ceremony was attended by federal ministers, parliamentarians and senior government functionaries.
Following are the portfolios that have been shuffled, or where new inductions have taken place:
The Cabinet, as shuffled, carries all three stamps--of President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and PML chief Shujaat Hussain.
But for the PM's rejection, Rashid would have retained his ministry. Zafar Iqbal Warriach, an obvious choice of Shujaat, would now contend with Aftab Sherpao in the Interior and Khalid Lund, a rebel PPP-P member, would share power with his erstwhile political boss Iqbal Sikander in Defence.
Zahid Hamid is the new minister for privatisation and investment. A lawyer by profession and a former civil servant, he holds Masters degree in Economics and was consultant for World Bank and Asian Development Bank also.
Professional competence, however, is not fully reflective in distribution of portfolios. For instance, high-profile women rights campaigner - of course within pre-determined limits - Nilofar Bakhtiar gets tourism and her hobbyhorse goes to Sumaira Malik. Breaking news, however, is the induction of Mushtaq Victor as minister of state for minorities. For more than three years, as the federal cabinet swelled periodically, for some weird reason, the chosen representatives of minorities were never allowed a peep into the inner sanctums of power, although Victor was not very far from it, as he acted as parliamentary secretary in the National Assembly.