Tag: cabinet reshuffle

  • Cabinet reshuffle, again

    Cabinet reshuffle, again

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has had another cabinet reshuffle this past week. The news of another reshuffle was doing the rounds for some weeks and finally it was announced on Friday, April 16. Except for one new but expected addition, all other portfolios have been given to already serving cabinet ministers. Only their portfolios have been changed.

    Hammad Azhar, who had just been appointed the finance minister less than three weeks ago after the ouster of Hafeez Shaikh, has now been removed and given the portfolio of energy. Shaukat Tarin, who served as the finance minister in the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) regime, has been appointed as minister for finance. He has been given the additional charge of revenue as well. Tarin is the fourth finance minister under the current regime and the second ex-PPP finance minister after Shaikh. Asad Umar was originally appointed the finance minister by PTI before being removed unceremoniously after a few months into his tenure whereas Hammad Azhar’s stint as finance minister was the shortest of all in this government. Tarin will be finance minister for at least six months and then the government will have to get him elected for him to remain in the ministerial position. Tarin has been extremely critical of PTI’s economic management. We will have to wait and see how he turns around the economy.

    Omar Ayub has been made the minister for economic affairs; he was previously energy minister. Khusro Bakhtiar, who held Ayub’s portfolio has now been given the portfolio of industries and production – a portfolio held earlier by Hammad Azhar, who now has Ayub’s portfolio. If this does not make your head hurt, do not fret for we now have Fawad Chaudhry back as the Information Minister while his ministry – Science & Technology – has been given to former information minister Shibli Faraz. Musical chairs, much?

    Fawad Chaudhry was an asset as the information minister when the PTI government came to power but he was replaced by Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan. Shibli Faraz later replaced Firdous. Chaudhry is the fourth – yet the original – information minister. When Chaudhry took on the science ministry, he brought his ministry to the limelight by starting many new projects. One of Chaudhry’s feats was his tussle on moonsighting for Ramzan and Eid with Mufti Muneeb. Chaudhry won in the end through his use of technology. Unfortunately, the new science minister Shibli Faraz thinks that moonsighting and the use of technology for this should not be the science ministry’s concern. We hope that Faraz will not rollback all the good work done by Chaudhry.

    We also hope that we will not need a new finance minister or a new information minister anytime soon.

  • Cabinet reshuffled, again

    Prime Minister Imran Khan has once again reshuffled the federal cabinet, appointing Shaukat Tareen as new finance minister.

    Tareen has replaced federal minister Hammad Azhar, who was appointed as the country’s finance minister a few weeks ago when the premier replaced him with Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh.

    Other changes include Khusro Bakhtiar as the minister for industries and production, Shibli Faraz as the minister for science and technology, replacing Fawad Chaudhry, who has been appointed as the minister for information and broadcasting, replacing Faraz.

    Omar Ayub has been appointed as the minister for economic affairs, replacing Khusro Bakhtiar.

    Last month, Faraz had shared the premier’s intentions on reshuffling the cabinet, saying that he was bringing in a new team.

    Prior to that, the government had asked Hafeez Shaikh to step down and appointed Azhar in his place.

    Faraz said decisions were made keeping in view the realities of the country and that the PTI regime wished to give relief to the poor.

    “When a new individual comes along, they come up with new ideas,” he had said.

    Reports had earlier quoted sources as saying that PM Imran was considering bringing about important changes to the cabinet on a “big scale”, adding that ministers who did not perform up to the expectations will be removed from their portfolios.

  • Asad Umar returns to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet

    Asad Umar returns to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet

    Former federal minister for finance Asad Umar, who was sacked for poor performance, on Monday was re-inducted to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s cabinet as the minister for planning, development and reforms.

    According to Special Assistant to the PM for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Khusro Bakhtiar was handed the petroleum portfolio instead, which was earlier held by Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

    “A notification, in this regard, will soon be issued,” she tweeted.

    In April this year, hours after Umar was shown the door, the former finance minister had said that he was removed by the premier because of his “performance” at the post in the last eight months.

    The ex-federal finance minister, who is a close aide of PM Imran, had also said that he wasn’t disappointed over the decision. “Since taking the job, I’ve worked my socks off, even my family says I’m burn out.”

    Umar had further said that as soon as he was told to leave his post his stress levels nose-dived. “You can’t imagined how relaxed I am right now.”

    On another query that if his stint as the finance minister would be deemed a failure, Umar had said he would leave that for time to decide. He was replaced by Adviser to the PM on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh.