ISLAMABAD, 1 September 2004 — Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will name a Cabinet today with changes in more than half the portfolios, but he will retain finance and there will be no change at the Foreign Ministry, officials said.
Among those ministers expected to be replaced is Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat, said a senior official of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML). “More than 60 percent of the portfolios will change,” the official, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters.
But Aziz would keep the finance portfolio, while foreign affairs will remain in the hands of Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, who has led Pakistani peace talks with nuclear-armed rival India.
President of Pakistan Muslim League Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain met Aziz yesterday and discussed issues related to the formation of the Cabinet.
Aziz informed Shujaat about the consultations under way with other leaders on the matter.
Officials and analysts said Cabinet changes would not entail dramatic policy shifts and there would be no changes in Pakistan’s support for the US-led war on terror, which would continue to be led by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who wields ultimate power as president.
The official said those taking the oath today would be full ministers, while the names of junior ministers would be announced later. Officials have said Aziz was likely to appoint a deputy for the finance portfolio, with Omar Ayub, grandson of Pakistan’s first military ruler Field Marshal Ayub Khan, seen as one of the main contenders.
PML sources said the government, which comprises a coalition of smaller and regional parties led by the league, did not intend to change the number of ministries held by each partner.
