In another reshuffle in the federal cabinet, Prime Minister Imran Khan has appointed Sheikh Rasheed as the interior ministry while Brig (r) Ijaz Shah, who had held the portfolio of the interior ministry, has been named as the narcotics minister.
Senator Azam Swati, whose portfolio has been given to Ijaz Shah, will replace Sheikh Rasheed as the railways minister.
Meanwhile, Hafeez Sheikh, who was serving as PM’s aide on finance, has been inducted in the cabinet as a federal minister for finance. Sheikh is not a member of parliament, but the PM can appoint “an unelected individual as a minister for six months under Article 91(9) of the Constitution”. He took oath as a federal minister earlier in the day.
“A Minister who for any period of 6 months is not a member of the National Assembly shall, at the expiration of that period, cease to be a Minister and shall not before the dissolution of that Assembly be again appointed a Minister unless he is elected a member of that Assembly,” reads Article 91(9).
Earlier, the Islamabad High Court had ruled that a special assistant or PM’s aide cannot head a public body without being an elected member of parliament. After this decision, Sheikh was unable to head the Economic Coordination Council (ECC) meeting.
This is the fifth time Prime Minister Imran Khan has reshuffled the federal cabinet since assuming office in 2018.
