KARACHI, Pakistan, 3 May 2008 — After almost two months of negotiations, the Muttehada Qaumi Movement (MQM) yesterday finally joined a coalition government in Pakistan’s troubled Sindh province.
A total of 15 MQM legislators were sworn in by Gov. Ishratul Ebad Khan as ministers in the Cabinet, which was expanded to include seven more ministers from the ruling Pakistan People’s Party.
After yesterday’s induction, the total strength of the Cabinet reached 41. The PPP, which has also formed governments at the center, in Punjab, North West Frontier Province and Balochistan, had earlier inducted 20 of its ministers, while one Cabinet post was given to the Awami National Party of Asfandyar Wali, which has for the first time won two seats in Sindh.
There are only four old faces in the new Cabinet, all belonging to the MQM. They are Shoaib Bokhri, Adil Siddiqi, Rauf Siddiqi and Sagheer Ahmad. They had been ministers in the previous Cabinet, working with the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid).
Fresh MQM faces in the Cabinet are Reza Haroon, Sheikh Afzal, Khalid bin Wilayat, Abdul Haseeb Khan, Mohammad Ali Shah, Zubair Ahmad, Nadia Gabol, Askari Taqvi, Faisal Sabzwari, L. Khawaja Izharul Haq and Mohammad Ali Rahu.
For the PPP, the new entrants are Ali Mardan Shah, Makhdoom Jameeluzzaman, Zahid Bhurgari, Rafiq Engineer, Agha Taimur, Ali Nawaz Shah and Mohan Das.
Their portfolios will be announced later.
A significant dropout was former parliamentary leader and senior minister in the previous Cabinet Syed Sardar Ahmad. He is likely to be made parliamentary leader again in the Sindh Assembly.
Since important portfolios had already been allotted to PPP ministers, the MQM had to be content with only a couple of key ministries such as planning and development, industry and commerce, health, information technology and alternate energy.
The power-sharing formula has been worked out at 1:3 in favor of the People’s Party.
With the MQM joining the government, the strength of the opposition has been reduced to a tenth of the 168-member house.
The composition of the new Cabinet also reflects reconciliation between PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and senior leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who was ignored for the post of premier.
His son Makhdoom Jameeluzzaman, ignored earlier, has been taken in. Similarly, vocal PPP member Rafiq Engineer, sidelined earlier, has been accommodated.
