PM Sharif adds Dar into revamped CCI, excludes Aurangzeb

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has sidelined Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb from the Council of Common Interests (CCI) and has added Minister for Foreign Affairs Ishaq Dar to the reconstituted CCI's membership. 

According to a media report, this is the first instance of a foreign minister being included in the Council of Common Interests (CCI), a constitutional body that resolves the disputes of power-sharing between the federation and its provinces. 

Although the finance minister's inclusion in the CCI has varied in the past, the energy and planning ministers have consistently been part of the CCI due to their relevance to provincial matters.

A notification from the Secretariat of the Council of Common Interests, dated March 25, 2024, details the formation of an eight-member Council of Common Interests, effective from March 21, 2024, on the advice of the prime minister and with the president's approval. 

The CCI consists of the Prime Minister as Chairman, the Chief Ministers of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh as members, along with Ishaq Dar, Minister for Foreign Affairs; Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Minister for Defence; and Engr Amir Muqam, Minister for States & Frontier Region (SAFRAN).

This notification replaces an earlier one from January 9, 2024, during the caretaker government's term, which had included the then Finance Minister, Dr Shamsha Akhtar, the Minister for Privatisation, Fawad Hasan Fawad, and the Minister for Law and Justice, Ahmad Irfan Aslam, as CCI members.