LAHORE: Former Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan and ex-Local Government Minister Mansha Ullah Butt have joined Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s cabinet as provincial ministers.
Governor Punjab Sardar Saleem Haider Khan administered the oath to the new ministers at Governor House. The ceremony was attended by Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan, Deputy Speaker Zaheer Iqbal Chanar, Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman, other cabinet members, and dignitaries. The appointment notification was read by the chief secretary.
Rana Iqbal Khan, from Kasur, is the son of the late political leader Rana Phool Muhammad. His relative, Rana Sikandar Hayat Khan, is already serving as provincial minister for education.
Mansha Ullah Butt, a veteran leader from Sialkot, has previously held ministerial positions in the Shehbaz Sharif and Hamza Shehbaz cabinets. Zeeshan Rafique, another leader from Sialkot, currently serves as provincial minister for local government.
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With these appointments, Kasur and Sialkot now each have two ministers in the Punjab cabinet. Narowal also has two ministers, Bilal Akbar Khan and Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora.
Both Rana Iqbal and Mansha Ullah Butt are respected in PML-N for their loyalty during the party’s difficult times.
However, south Punjab remains underrepresented. Out of more than 20 cabinet members, only Kazim Pirzada (Bahawalpur) and Sher Ali Gorchani (Rajanpur) represent south Punjab.
Lahore continues to dominate the cabinet with key ministers including Bilal Yasin, Khawaja Salman Rafique, Faisal Ayub Khokhar, Sohail Shaukat Butt, and Khawaja Imran Nazir. Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also hail from Lahore.
