Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan will be the new Pakistan government's point man for dealing with law and order problems and a Taliban insurgency while Power Minister Khwaja Asif has been entrusted the tasking of addressing a crippling energy crisis.
Khan, a hawk considered close to the military and a political heavyweight from the Rawalpindi region, was allocated the Interior Ministry hours after 25 members of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's council of ministers were sworn in yesterday.
Asif, a former banker, has been allocated the crucial water and power portfolio at a time when cities and towns across Pakistan are coping with power cuts of up to 20 hours a day.
According to a notification issued by the Cabinet Division, Zahid Hamid was allocated the law and justice portfolio, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi petroleum and natural resources, Abdul Qadir Baloch states and frontier regions, Ishaq Dar finance and revenue, Khwaja Saad Rafiq railways, Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi industries and production, Birjees Tahir Kashmir and Gilgit affairs, Pervez Rashid information and broadcasting, Kamran Michael ports and shipping and Sadaruddin Rashidi overseas Pakistanis affairs.
Among the ministers of state, Mian Baleegh-ur-Rehman was given the education portfolio, Khurram Dastagir Khan science and technology, Usman Ibraheem housing and works, Sheikh Aftab Ahmed parliamentary affairs, Jam Kamal Khan petroleum and natural resources, Abdul Hakeem Baloch railways, Anusha Rehman Khan information technology and telecom, Saira Afzal Tarar health sciences regulation and coordination and Pir Muhammad Amin-ul-Hasnat religious affairs.
The Cabinet Division also notified the appointment of former minister Sartaj Aziz as Advisor to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs and Capt (retired) Shujaat Azeem as Advisor to the Prime Minister on Aviation.
PML-N leader Sanaullah Zehri and former envoy Tariq Fatemi have been appointed Special Assistants to the Prime Minister.
