A day after the Supreme Court (SC) ordered Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz to serve as trustee CM until Monday, a 37-member Punjab cabinet took the oath of office.
Punjab’s political unrest and constitutional issue grew worse as Deputy Speaker Dost Mazari on Friday invalidated 10 PML-Q votes cast in the election for Chief Minister of Punjab. Hamza was chosen as the next chief minister of Punjab under Mazari’s rule, and Pervez Elahi failed once more to seize the crown.
PTI and PML-Q approached the SC after Mazari’s decision, but the top court ultimately decided to limit Hamza’s authority and ordered him to serve as trustee CM.
Cabinet members took their oaths of office at Governor House. Members of the provincial assembly, the information secretary, the inspector general of police for Punjab, as well as several dignitaries, attended. The provincial ministers received the oath from Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman.
The ministers who took the oath included Colonel (ret.) Ayub Gadhi, Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan, Maher Ijaz Ahmad Achalana, Siddique Khan Baloch, Kazim Ali Pirzada, Chaudhry Shafiq, Malik Nadeem Kamran, Mian Yawar Zaman, Chaudhry Iqbal Gujjar, Muhammad Manshaullah Butt, Tanveer Aslam MalikSince the retirement of former chief minister Usman Buzdar, the conflict for the monarchy of Punjab has persisted.
Following Buzdar, PTI had proposed PML-Q Chaudhry Pervez Elahi for the top position, while the PML-N and the central coalition partners preferred Hamza Shahbaz.
