Pakistan PM sacks ministers over war of words

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sacked two cabinet ministers on Tuesday for engaging in a protracted and public war of words over a corruption scandal.

Gilani's office announced in a short statement that Science and Technology Minister Azam Swati and Religious Affairs Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi had been removed from their portfolios.

Swati and Kazmi had been locked in a row over a scandal that reportedly implicated Kazmi's ministry in graft while booking accommodation for around 80,000 Pakistani pilgrims to Mecca.

The sacked religious affairs minister said he was innocent of any wrongdoing.

"There is no proof of corruption against me... My hands are clean," Kazmi told a televised public gathering in the eastern city of Lahore.

Gilani's office said Education Minister Sardar Assef Ahmad Ali and Labour Minister Syed Khursheed Shah have taken on the religious affairs and information technology portfolios respectively.

There was no immediate announcement on who would take over the science portfolio.

The cabinet consists of 54 ministers and deputy ministers after the removal of Swati and Kazmi, a senior government official told AFP.

Gilani's government, which returned Pakistan to elected civilian rule in 2008, has been heavily criticised for maintaining a large cabinet and so exacerbating the burden on the cash-strapped national exchequer.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.