President Arif Alvi on Thursday administered oath to members of newly appointed caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar’s cabinet.

The oath-taking ceremony began with the recitation of the Holy Quran at the President House in Islamabad, which was attended by Kakar, Punjab interim Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi and others.

According to a list of cabinet members issued by the Presidency, 16 federal ministers took oath while the interim PM has also appointed three advisers.

Earlier in the day, senior journalist Murtaza Solangi told Dawn.com that he had been offered the portfolio of the information ministry, which he had accepted.

He later also confirmed to Reuters that former central bank chief Shamshad Akhtar was appointed as finance minister and Pakistan’s ex-ambassador to the United States, Jalil Abbas Jilani, was named foreign minister.

Federal ministers

• Senator Sarfaraz Bugti
• Jalil Abbas Jilani
• Shamshad Akhtar
• Lt General (r) Anwar Ali Hyder
• Murtaza Solangi
• Sami Saeed
• Shahid Ashraf Tarar
• Ahmad Irfan Aslam
• Muhammad Ali
• Gohar Ejaz
• Umar Saif
• Nadeem Jan
• Khalil George
• Aneeq Ahmad
• Jamal Shah
• Madad Ali Sindhi

Advisers to PM

• Air Marshal (r) Farhat Hussain Khan
• Ahad Khan Cheema
• Waqar Masood Khan

Dr Saif took to X (formerly Twitter) to confirm that he had been entrusted with the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication. He also shared that he had taken the oath of office for this role.

Senator Sarfaraz Bugti also confirmed on X that he was assigned the portfolio of the Interior Ministry.

Meanwhile, former climate change minister and PPP leader Sherry Rehman congratulated Jilani on his new post and extended best wishes.

Today’s swearing-in ceremony comes days after Kakar was sworn in as the caretaker premier following weeks-long deliberations.

Baqar takes oath as interim Sindh CM

Separately, Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar took the oath as the caretaker Chief Minister of Sindh. The swearing-in ceremony, held on Thursday evening, was officiated by Governor Kamran Tessori.

Baqar’s selection as the interim provincial chief executive stemmed from a unanimous decision between former Sindh chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and the Leader of the Opposition in the provincial assembly, Rana Ansar.

A law graduate from the University of Karachi, Justice Baqar retired from the Supreme Court last year and has served as the chief justice of the Sindh High Court as well.

According to the SHC’s website, he was enrolled there as an advocate in May 1981, after which he was elevated to the role of an additional judge on Aug 26, 2002.

Exactly a year later, Justice Baqar was confirmed as an SHC judge. On Sept 26, 2013, he was appointed as the chief justice before being elevated to the role of a Supreme Court justice on Feb 17, 2015.

Justice Baqar was also the target of a deadly bomb attack in June 2013, which killed nine people and injured 15 others, including Baqar, who was serving as a senior SHC judge at the time.

Additional information from Reuters