Five special assistants join PM Abbasi's cabinet

ISLAMABAD: The federal government appointed five special assistants on Tuesday, taking the size of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's cabinet to 58.

Sources informed Geo News that the special assistants include Miftah Ismail, Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed, Barrister Zaffarullah Khan, Senator Asif Kirmani and Mussadiq Malik.

Earlier, it was reported in The News, that Ahmed, Zafarullah, Kirmani and others would be appointed in the cabinet as special assistants soon. During Nawaz's tenure, the maximum strength of special assistants was nine. These special assistants were enjoying the status of ministers of state.

Within the first fortnight of his tenure, Abbasi scored half a century of cabinet members, including federal ministers, ministers of state and advisers. With the last appointment of six advisers to the prime minister, the strength of cabinet members had reached 53.

After taking the oath of office on August 1, Abbasi initially inducted a 43-member cabinet which included 27 federal ministers and 16 ministers of state. A few days later, four new ministers took oath at the President House, bringing the number of members of the federal cabinet to 47. The new inductees include two federal ministers and two ministers of state.

Last weekend, the prime minister further expanded his cabinet by appointing six advisers, including Lieutenant General (retd) Nasser Janjua as National Security Adviser, Sartaj Aziz as deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, Jam Mashooq Ali, Amir Muqam and Irfan Siddiqui as advisers.

All these advisers, who had also served former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the same capacity, have been given the status of federal ministers.

In the last prime minister's tenure, the cabinet members’ strength which was 25 (including advisers and special assistants) in 2013 had later increased to 43 including 21 federal ministers, nine ministers of state, four advisers and nine special assistants to the prime minister.