Nine out of 15 federal ministers - whose names were released by his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf were senior 'representatives' and known faces in the Gen Pervez Musharraf era. There are also a few from Pakistan People's Party (PPP) dispensation.
Predictably, some people were anguished -
No wonder, an old hand in Pakistan's foreign office, Mosharraf Zaidi, tweeted saying: "The Imran Khan cabinet is many things, but "change", it is not. Nine out of 15 ministers, and three out of five advisers were senior officials in the Gen Musharraf era".
Not to the surprise of many at least in India, new Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday packed his cabinet committed to build up a 'Naya Pakistan' with old faces and renowned hardliners.
Among the names also include hardliner Shireen Mazari, who once advocated nuclear strikes against India. Media reports earlier suggested that she could be new Defence Minister, however according to the list released she would be the Minister in charge of Human Rights.
The vocal Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2008 to 2011, is also back and has been named as new Foreign Minister under Imran Khan, who has famously claimed that in order to improve relations with India he would be keen to take "two steps in return of one" from the dispensation in Delhi. In India, both the foreign ministry and the BJP leaders have been guarded with their reactions on developments in Pakistan.
Notwithstanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi having a tele talk and complimented Imran Khan on his victory last month, the BJP leaders did not display any enthusiasm on chances of improvement in bilateral ties.
A BJP leader in Delhi on the condition of anonymity told UNI after the election results last month that:
"People do talk about election being rigged at the behest of army....so the story has hardly changed. This was the story even two decades back".
According to 'The Economist' - "This time the soldiers (read Pakistani military establishment) have in their sights ideal outcome - a pliable leader and a minority government that will not be too powerful".
As soon as the news flashed from Islamabad on Saturday that Mr Qureshi will be the new Foreign Minister under Imran Khan, journalists and Indo-Pak watchers did not miss the point to recall that on the 'historic and ill-fated' day of November 26, 2008 - the day Mumbai was under siege of 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, the then Pak Foreign Minister was in India "addressing a joint press conference" with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee.
In fact, MEA website still has the record of the statement wherein - to the much embarrassment of the UPA regime - Mr Mukherjee had stated: "In our review today we noted the substantial achievements already have been made in the Fifth Round. To list some of them, the opening of cross LoC trade, the agreement in principle to open the Wagah-Attari route for all permissible items of trade, the opening of Kokhrapar-Munabao rail link for trade in cargo, discussion on modalities of the Kargil-Skardu link".
For his part, Mr Qureshi had said: "In Pakistan today you have a democratic government. And I expect the largest democracy in the world to be supportive to a democratic dispensation in Pakistan. The political environment of Pakistan today is very positive towards India".
It is altogether a different matter that hours after the media interaction, Lashqar militants including
Ajmal Kasab attacked India's commercial capital and killed 166 people, including foreign citizens.
Among the old faces finding berth in Imran cabinet also include the new Railway Minister
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, who also served Gen Musharraf regime as Information Minister.
No wonder, an old hand in Pakistan's foreign office, Mosharraf Zaidi, tweeted saying: "The Imran Khan cabinet is many things, but "change", it is not. Nine out of 15 ministers, and three out of five advisers were senior officials in the Gen Musharraf era".
Imran Khan-led dispensation will face multiple problems including financial crisis,water shortages and power supply problem.
According to some observers, while the army-backed victory for Imran Khan looks tainted, at least extreme religious and radical parties which often made common cause with Khan's PTI look 'genuinely' trounced and cornered.
Tail Piece:
Those among the youngsters in Imran's party - who missed the cabinet berths include Maleeka Bokhari, who was part of the PTI legal team that fought PTI Panama Case in the Supreme Court and also Zartaj Gul Wazir, who defeated influential feudal lord Sardar Awais Leghari.
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| Zartaj Gul |
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