Four new federal ministers were inducted into the caretaker cabinet, raising the number of its members to 28. An unusually large interim administration headed by Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro as caretaker prime minister comprising 24 ministers, who took oath on November 16.
A day earlier the outgoing National Assembly and the Cabinet were dissolved after completing their five-year constitutional tenure. The newly inducted ministers with their portfolios are Dr Muhammad Amjad (Inter-provincial Coordination), Ejaz Rahim (Health), Abdul Jamil Khan (Population Welfare), and Tariq Hamid (Water and Power). Fresh inductees sworn in at a ceremony held here on Thursday. President General Pervez Musharraf administered the oath.
The ceremony was attended by Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro and other senior officials. Observers of Pakistan politics reacted to the cabinet's expansion with surprise as they didn't see any reason for having such a large set-up to steer the country to parliamentary polls early next year.