{"id":23347,"date":"2017-08-05T16:43:31","date_gmt":"2017-08-05T11:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/?p=23347"},"modified":"2017-08-05T16:48:15","modified_gmt":"2017-08-05T11:18:15","slug":"posturing-inclusion-pakistan-cabinet-gets-first-hindu-minister-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/world-news\/posturing-inclusion-pakistan-cabinet-gets-first-hindu-minister-20-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Posturing of inclusion: Pakistan cabinet gets first Hindu minister in 20 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the newly sworn-in Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, formed his cabinet\u00a0on Friday, one name stood out in the robust exercise that saw federal and state ministerial positions swell from 25 under Nawaz Sharif to 47, that of Darshan Lal Punshi \u2013 the first Hindu cabinet minister in Pakistan in nearly 25 years.<\/p>\n

Dr Darshan, as he is popularly called in Pakistan politics and within Sharif\u2019s party – Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) \u2013 is a two-term member of the Pakistan National Assembly, elected under the minority quota that has five other Hindu representatives to for the fledgling religious minority that comprises just 2 per cent of the country\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

Formerly a practicing doctor in Mirpur Mathelo town of Sindh province\u2019s Ghotki district, Darshan Lal was allotted the portfolio of inter-provincial coordination shortly after being sworn in as a member of the Abbasi cabinet. His job would involve maintaining crucial dialogue between the federal government and the four provinces of Pakistan besides overseeing and coordinating the Centre\u2019s initiatives in them.<\/p>\n

With his induction in the cabinet, Darshan Lal joins the illustrious club of Jogendranath Mandal (a Dalit from Bengal who was the only Hindu member in Pakistan\u2019s first cabinet under Mohammed Ali Jinnah) and Rana Chandra Singh (a Sodha Rajput royal from the erstwhile Umerkot jagir in Sindh and founding member of ZA Bhutto\u2019s Pakistan People\u2019s Party).<\/p>\n

While the Indian establishment and observers may take a Hindu minister\u2019s appointment as a sign of Pakistan\u2019s goodwill gesture towards India and its willingness to at least project a polity that is inclusive, Pakistani political observers are certain that Darshan\u2019s induction \u2013 like that of the other ministers who were sworn in\u00a0on Friday\u00a0\u2013 is purely an effort by the PML-N to shore up nationwide support before the 2018 general elections.<\/p>\n

The Hindu minority in Pakistan <\/a>\u2013 although just 2 per cent of the population \u2013 is concentrated in small pockets of the Sindh and Punjab provinces and having a person from the community in the federal cabinet could help in incremental electoral gains for the PML-N. Unlike Punjab, which is a stronghold of the Sharif family and has Nawaz\u2019s younger brother Shahbaz as its chief minister, Sindh has traditionally been a bastion of the PPP \u2013 the arch political rival of the PML-N and the only other party besides Sharif\u2019s to have a pan-Pakistan appeal. Since Hindu\u2019s have a sway in some seats in Sindh (which sent the last Hindu minister to the Pakistan cabinet in Rana Chandra Singh), Darshan Lal \u2013 who also belongs to this province \u2013 could help PML-N make further in-road here before next year\u2019s general elections.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Abbasi has also appointed Khwaja Asif as his foreign minister, the first leader to hold the crucial office since 2013. In the earlier dispensation Sartaj Aziz was serving as PM\u2019s advisor for foreign affairs but no one was officially granted the foreign affairs portfolio.<\/p>\n

Asif has earlier served as Minister of Defense, Water and Power. He was Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources in the Yousaf\u00a0 Raza Gilani government and has been representing the Sialkot constituency in the National Assembly since 1993.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"