Punjab cabinet to take oath today

As many as 14 ministers, including six from the PPP, will take oath of their office in the first phase of the Punjab cabinet today (Tuesday).The PML-N ministers will take oath from Governor Khalid Maqbool while wearing black armbands like their federal counterparts who took oath from President Gen Pervez Musharraf the same way as a mark of protest.The oath will be administered at the Governor’s house at around 5.30pm. Sources said PML-N ministers, who take oath, include Rana Sanaullah Khan, Malik Ahmed Ali Aulakh, Nadeem Kamran, Mian Ahsanuddin Qureshi, Kamran Micheal, Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, Malik Iqbal Chanar and Chaudhry Ghafoor. The portfolios of the PML-N ministers would be announced later. PPP’s Raja Riaz had already taken oath as the senior minister. PPP members include Tanvir Ashraf Kaira (minister for planning & development), Dr Tanvirul Islam (minister for health), Malik Ashraf Sohna (minister for labour and manpower), Farooq Ghurki (minister for communications & works), Haji Muhammad Ishaq (minister for revenue/excise & taxation) and Neelum Jabbar Chaudhry (minister for social welfare & women development). Meanwhile, a notification of two advisers, Pervez Rashid and Najma Hameed, of the PML-N is also expected to be issued on Tuesday. Parliamentarians from Lahore are expected to dominate the cabinet as four out of 15 ministers belong to the provincial metropolis.