ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has suggested newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari to appoint a 19-member cabinet. According to a letter written by the premier to Zardari, the cabinet includes 12 MNAs and 3 senators as federal ministers, as well as Shaza Fatima Khawaja as a minister of state.

Familiar faces returning include ex-defence minister Khawaja Asif, former finance minister Ishaq Dar, ex-planning minister Ahsan Iqbal, former law minister Azam Nazeer Tarar and ex-state minister for petroleum Musadik Malik.

Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party leader Aleem Khan and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui are also among the names for federal ministers.

New faces to serve in the federal cabinet include former caretaker Punjab chief minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi, who is also the Pakistan Cricket Board chief currently.

Muhammad Aurangzeb, presumably the HBL chief, and former PM’s aide Ahad Khan Cheema have also been suggested as federal ministers. The appointment of ex-PM’s aide on youth affairs Shaza Fatima Khawaja as a minister of state has been advised too.

Other names for federal ministers include PML-N’s Jam Jamal Khan, Amir Muqam, Sardar Awais Leghari, Attallah Tarar, Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh and Riaz Hussain Pirzada, as well as the PML-Q’s Chaudhry Salik Hussain.