Pakistan PM Imran Khan approves 20-member cabinet

Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced a 20-member Cabinet. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf spokesman Fawad Chaudhry said, out of the 20 names announced, 15 will be ministers while five others will perform their duties as advisers to the premier.  The newly-announced ministers are expected to take oath tomorrow.
According to the list shared by Chaudhry on Twitter, Shah Mehmood Qureshi has been appointed as Foreign Minister, who held the portfolio during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Pervaiz Khattak has been appointed as Defence Minister, Asad Umer as Finance Minister and Sheikh Rashid from Rawalpindi has been appointed as Railway minister. Among others, three women including Shireen Mazari, Zubaida Jalal and Fehmida Mriza are also part of the cabinet.
The five advisors who have the status of ministers include known faces like former banker Ishrat Hussain, businessman Abdul Razzak Dawood and Babar Awan.
Khan’s party said it has nominated party’s veteran lawmaker Dr Arif Alvi as its candidate for the President of Pakistan. The presidential election will be held on September 4 – five days before the expiry of the five-year term of President Mamnoon Hussain.
Khan was yesterday sworn in as Pakistan’s new prime minister, nearly 22 years after the former cricket hero entered politics.