A 20-member Azad Jammu and Kashmir cabinet, including two advisers, has taken oath after being formed in line with an agreement reached with the Joint Awami Action Committee, which required the cabinet size not to exceed 20 members.Acting Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Chaudhry Latif Akbar administered the oath to 18 ministers at a ceremony in Muzaffarabad on Wednesday, while Prime Minister Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore swore in the two advisers. One woman minister has been included in the new cabinet.
The oath-taking ceremony was attended by former AJK president and prime minister Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, former prime minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan, the chief secretary, inspector general of police, departmental secretaries and a large number of Pakistan Peoples Party workers.
The ministers who took oath included Mian Abdul Waheed, Sardar Javed Ayub, Javed Iqbal Budhanvi, Chaudhry Arshad Hussain, Chaudhry Muhammad Rasheed, Ali Shan Soni, Syed Bazil Ali Naqvi, Sardar Muhammad Hussain Khan, Chaudhry Yasir Sultan, Chaudhry Ikhlaq Ahmed, Chaudhry Aamir Yasin, Sardar Ziaul Qamar, Zafar Iqbal Malik, Diwan Ali Khan Chughtai, Chaudhry Muhammad Rafiq Nair, Chaudhry Qasim Majeed, Sardar Faheem Akhtar Rabbani and Nabila Ayub.
PM Rathore administered the oath to Sardar Ahmed Sagheer and Sardar Fahad Yaqoob as advisers to the government. During the ceremony, Secretary Services and General Administration Zafar Mehmood Khan read out the official notification of appointments.
