Islamabad: Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was known for his less-than friendly attitude towards India, is no longer the foreign minister of Pakistan as Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani reconstituted his cabinet today.
A voluble leader, 54-year-old Qureshi, who headed the foreign ministry in the PPP government since March 2008, today refused to take oath as a cabinet minister after it became known that he was not going to get the foreign affairs portfolio.
Offered Water and Power portfolio, the former foreign minister was apparently reluctant to join the government, PPP spokesperson Fauzia Wahab told PTI.
A lawyer by profession, Qureshi was considered a hardliner because of his apparent proximity to the Army. At a press conference with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna in July last year, he equated Home Secretary G.K. Pillai's comments to those of JuD chief Hafiz Saeed.
He also said that Krishna often got calls from India during the bilateral talks and left the room for consultations.
For now, the foreign ministry will be looked after by Hina Rabbani Khar, who was minister of state for finance in the dissolved cabinet, sources said.
The 34-year-old has been participating in discussions with the World Bank and the IMF for financial reforms in Pakistan and is familiar with western leaders.
A total of 21 federal ministers and a minister of state were administered the oath of office by President Asif Ali Zardari at a ceremony in the presidency.
The new cabinet also retained several key ministers. The state-run PTV had reported earlier in the day that Qureshi would be among 23 ministers who would take oath but he was not among those who administered the oath of office by the President.
TV news channels quoted their sources as saying that Qureshi refused to take oath after the PPP's leadership told him that he would not be given the foreign affairs portfolio.
One report said Qureshi had expressed his inability to accept a ministerial post due to 'domestic problems'. Gilani's old cabinet had resigned earlier this week as part of an exercise to refurbish the Pakistan People's Party-led government's flagging image.
The new cabinet is smaller but retained many old members. Former ministers re-inducted into the cabinet include Rehman Malik (former interior minister), Abdul Hafeez Sheikh (former finance minister), Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar (former defence minister), Amin Fahim (former commerce minister) and Naveed Qamar (former petroleum minister).
The new ministers inducted in the cabinet are Mian Raza Rabbani, Engineer Shaukatullah, Changeez Jamali, Sardar Muhammad Gargej and Haji Khuda Bakhsh Rajar.