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Islamabad, Sunday (AFP)

After three years of military rule, executive power returned to civilian hands in Pakistan with the swearing-in of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali as prime minister and his 21-member cabinet.

Jamali, from the military-backed Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), was elected as prime minister Thursday by a razor-thin margin from the hung national assembly.

Six of the 10 dissenters from the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) -- whose votes were crucial to his securing of the premiership -- were rewarded with cabinet positions.

The leading dissenters, Rao Sikandar Iqbal, Faisal Saleh Hayat and Chaudhry Naurez Shakoor, took three of the 14 federal minister slots, while three others were named ministers of state.

Iqbal was handed the key defence portfolio, Hayat scored interior and narcotics control, while Shakoor is to oversee petroleum and natural resources.

PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar slammed the dissenters' appointments.

"The prime minister has on this inaugural day fulfilled a promise which was not based on morality or ethical principles," he told AFP.

The remainder of the cabinet included 12 PML-Q members, one independent and two members of minor pro-regime parties.

Zubaida Jalal, education minister in Musharraf's former cabinet, was the only female cabinet appointee. She was elected on an independent ticket and will retain her education portfolio.

Former finance minister and close aide of Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz, was one of four advisors to the prime minister named. Advisors are not cabinet members but are accorded the status of minister.

Members of the ethnic-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), whose 17 seats were also crucial to Jamali's win as prime minister, missed out on cabinet slots.

Senior party leader Farooq Sattar told AFP the party was offered two ministries "with important portfolios" but decided not to accept them.

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