Pakistan Nominates Key Members of New Power Setup
The members of Pakistan's supreme executive body, the National Security Council (NSC), and key cabinet members were officially announced on October 25 night.
The four NSC members nominated Monday were Sharifuddin Pirzada, Muhammad Yaqub, Attiya Inayatullah and Imtiaz Sahibzada. Among them Pirzada will act as senior advisor to Chief Executive General Pervaiz Musharraf and ex-officio member, an official press release said.
The seven-member National Security Council headed by General Musharraf, who is also Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Army Chief, also includes Naval Chief Marshal Abdul Aziz Mirza and Air Chief Admiral Pervaiz Mehdi Qureshi.
Meanwhile, Abdus Sattar was named as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shaukat Aziz as Minister of Finance and Aziz A. Munshi as Attorney General of Pakistan.
No further data on those nominated were available right now.
The nominations were announced by Chief Executive General with the approval of President Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, said the release.
The unexpected announcement came at a time when General Musharraf is currently on a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
In his policy statement last week, the general declared to form a National Security Council to take charge of the affairs of the country after the dismissal of the civilian government of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Besides three staff chiefs, the council would include a specialist each of legal, finance, foreign and national affairs, according to the chief executive.
The cabinet of ministers being set up will work under the guide of the National Security Council.
The army leaders, who seize the power through a coup on October 12, said they were determined to choose those "clean, competent, non-controversial and non-political" to rule the country which had been distressed with corruption and bad governance. (Xinhua)
WorldNews 1999-10-27 Page6
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