Dar included, Aurangzeb excluded from CCI

Reportedly, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has excluded Muhammad Aurangzeb, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue as a member of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) and included Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ishaq Dar. This has been done for the first time in the history of Council.

In the past finance minister was not always included in the CCI, yet energy minister and planning minister were included because they deal with matters of concern with provinces.

According to the notification issued by the Secretariat of Council of Common Interests on March 25, 2024, in exercise of powers conferred under Article 153 of the Constitution of Pakistan, the president on the advice of prime minister, has constituted eight Member Council of Common Interests, with effect from March 21, 2024 that include Prime Minister (Chairman); Chief Minister Balochistan (Member); Chief Minster, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Member); Chief Minister, Punjab (Member); Chief Minister, Sindh (Member); Ishaq Dar, Minister for Foreign Affairs; Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Defence and  Engr Amir Muqam, Minister for States& Frontier Region (SAFRAN).

The new notification supersedes Secretariat of CCI’s notification of January 9, 2024 issued during the term of caretaker government. Caretaker prime minister included the then Finance Minister, Dr Shamsha Akhtar, Minister for Privatisation, Fawad Hasan Fawad and Minister for Law and Justice, Ahmad Irfan Aslam as Members of the CCI.

Analysts argued that presence of finance minister and law minister in Council of Common Interests is critical as these two portfolios are required to respond to different queries raised by the provinces during the meeting.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also conferred control of Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) to Ishaq Dar against past practice of giving it to the Finance Minister.

The caretaker government of Anwaarul Haq Kakar gave the chairmanship of CCoP to Privatisation Minister Fawad Hasan Fawad aimed at expediting actions on decisions of PC Board.

Earlier, Cabinet Division has issued a notification of Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif himself. However, after massive criticism from the media, the notification was withdrawn and a new one issued giving the chairmanship to the finance minister.