Twelve more ministers on Monday were inducted into the caretaker cabinet of the interim government of NWFP to raise the toll of the ministers to seventeen in the province. The Governor NWFP Lieutenant General Ali Mohammad Jan Aurakzai (Retd) administered oath to them in a ceremony held here at Governor's House.
The Caretaker Chief Minister, Shams-ul-Mulk was also present on this occasion. Those who took oath were included Alamzeb Khan, Iftikhar-ud-Din Chamkani, Mrs Meraj Hamayun, Syed Imtiaz Hussain Gilani, Ijaz Ali Durrani, Brigadier Qayyum Sher Mehsud (Retd), Abdul Karim Kasuria, Mrs Seeme Riaz, Syed Kamal Shah, Hisam-ud-Din Bangash, Pir Khalid Raza Zakorri Sharif and Colonel Bashir Wali Muhammad (Retd).
The provincial ministers, senior government officials, representatives of media, and relatives of the newly inducted members of the provincial cabinet attended the ceremony.
Alamzeb Khan, a former MNA of the Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman led JUI-F has recently joined the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) while Mrs Meraj Hamayun was the director of a non-governmental organisation known as the Dalas Gul.
Syed Imtiaz Hussain Gilani was the vice chancellor the NWFP University of Engineering and Technology and has also served under the Governorship of Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah in the capacity of the minister for education and information for three years.
Abdul Karim Kasuria, a former bureaucrat is the brother of Abdul Haleem Kasuria, district president PML-Q, D.I. Khan and PML-N leader Colonel Mohibullah Khan Kasuria (Retd). During his service he had headed the department of Home and Tribal Affairs and also as the political agent of various tribal agencies before retirement from the government service. During the previous government of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), he was given two years extension in his job.
Syed Kamal Shah is a political activist belonged to PPP-Sherpao hailing from Mardan. Shah has contested the election of 2002 and local bodies elections 2005 for the slot of the district nazim, Mardan but lost both contests to rivals.
Pir Khalid Raza Zakori hailing from district Lakki belonged to a known Leaguer family. He is also the sitting provincial president of PML Ulema and Mashaikh wing of the province. He also served in the interim cabinet of chief minister Mufti Abbas in 1993. He contested the general elections of 2002 against Zafarullah Khan Marwat of the PML-N but lost.
One of the caretaker minister, Iftikharuddin Chamkani is the father of Intikhab Khan, additional secretary general PML-Q NWFP while Colonel Bashir Wali Mohammad (Retd) is the uncle of another PML-Q leader, Arbab Ghulam Haider.
The caretaker government in NWFP has been formed after the dissolution of the NWFP Assembly by then chief minister Akram Khan Durrani to protest the re-election of the President General Pervez Musharraf from the present assemblies.
In first phase four provincial ministers including former bureaucrat Azam Khan, Shahzada Gustasip Khan, opposition leader in the dissolved provincial assembly, Syed Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha of PML-Q and Bakht Baidar of PPP-Sherpao were inducted in the provincial cabinet while in second phase former justice Mohammad Ajmal was also sworn in the provincial government.