The Cabinet Secretariat said that Chaudhry Abid Raza and Moeen Wattoo have been appointed as special assistants to the prime minister (SAPMs) with the status of state ministers.
Just a day earlier, five members were inducted in the federal Cabinet, as the country continues to grapple with the worst financial crisis.
Earlier this month, the Cabinet inducted Muhammad Jawad Sohrab Malik as Special Assistant to Premier and given the status of a state minister.
Who is Jawad Sohrab Malik?
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chose a secret venue for important meetings when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently visited London, before and after his visit to the United Nations.
Senior journalist and Geo News London correspondent Murtaza Ali Shah had revealed a few weeks back that the meetings took place at Malik’s London apartment instead of the residences and offices of the party.
While these meetings led to the return of Ishaq Dar, it is also expected that the premier might have also discussed the appointment of the next army chief with the elder Sharif, at the said apartment.
The economic situation needs tough steps. Success of talks with the IMF will open the doors for financial aid from China and Saudi Arabia, too. Furthermore, an agreement with the international lender will see a subsequent rise in inflation during the next six months, and this will have an impact on the forthcoming elections as well.
Jawad Sohrab is the chairman and CEO of Sohrab Foundation. He is the nephew of federal minister and former Senate chairman Mian Muhammad Soomro.
His brother, Fahad Malik, a British-Pakistani lawyer, was murdered by a group of gangsters in Islamabad during the PML-N’s previous term.
It was the largest cabinet in Pakistan's history by that time but now it's world's largest cabinet.
Financial crisis
The appointments come as Pakistan struggles with a financial crisis, and attempts to secure a deal with the IMF to be lent the much-needed loan.
The Fund wants Pakistan to cut subsidies and reduce its expenditure, and is skeptical about commercial loans, and wants the country to exclude them from its agenda. The reforms to curtailing bureaucratic expenditure a major challenge for the policymakers.
The current economic crisis needs a tough steps. Success of talks with the IMF will open the doors for financial aid from China and Saudi Arabia, too.
Furthermore, an agreement with the international lender will see a subsequent rise in inflation during the next six months, and this will have an impact on the forthcoming elections as well.”