CM Maryam’s Punjab Cabinet is not comprised of 95pc young people

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team cross-checked the ages of ministers listed on the Punjab Assembly’s website with various age brackets according to different definitions of youth or young people.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz addressed agriculture graduate students at the Faisalabad University of Agriculture on September 25, 2024, claiming 95 per cent of her cabinet consisted of young individuals. However, at least four ministers are above 30.

HOW IT STARTED

CM Maryam launched an agriculture graduate internship programme at the Faisalabad University of Agriculture on September 25.

At the beginning of her speech, she praised Punjab Agriculture Minister Syed Muhammad Ashiq Hussain, saying, “I changed the tradition, incurred the displeasure of my entire party and thank God, 95pc of my cabinet are all young people, eligible, hardworking and educated youth. Today, all of you are sitting here as a result of Ashiq Hussain’s hard work … he is the representative of every youth of Punjab who served you and worked for you.”

The clip of the video was also shared on PML-N’s X account, where the post was viewed by 11,500 people.

METHODOLOGY

A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim made by the Punjab CM during her public speech due to the high percentage she quoted.

To investigate her claim, the ages of ministers in the Punjab Cabinet listed on the Punjab Assembly’s website were cross-checked. However, not every minister’s age and birth year were mentioned on the website.

The following ministers have their birth year mentioned on the website:

• Sports and Labour Minister Faisal Ayub: April 18, 1991 (33 years)
• Agriculture Minister Ashiq Hussain: August 27, 1984 (40)
• Local Government Minister Zeeshan Rafique: June 30, 1980 (44 years)
• Emergency Services Minister Khawaja Sulman Rafiq: February 16, 1965 (59)

As per the website, there are 17 ministers in the Punjab Cabinet, meaning that 95pc corresponds to 16 ministers.

Therefore, 16 ministers should fall within the youth category, leaving only 1 minister outside of it. There should be thus no more than one Punjab minister falling out of the youth age bracket.

According to the United Nations, a youth is defined as “individuals between the ages of 15 and 24 years.”

The federal government’s National Youth Development Framework 2020 defines youth as “persons between the age groups of 15 to 29 years.”

The United States Agency for International Development defines youth as, “Individuals aged between 10 to 29 years”, while the US National Library of Medicine, the world’s biggest medical library, defines defines young adulthood as, “people aged 16 to 26 years.”

Thus, four age brackets are derived for defining the youth or young people:

• UN: 15-24
• Pakistan: 15-29
• USAID: 10-20
• US National Library of Medicine: 16-26

However, we see that as per the birth years available on the Punjab Assembly’s website, not one but four ministers are beyond the above four age brackets, at least 23.5pc of the Punjab Cabinet does not consist of young people.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim made by Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz that 95pc of her cabinet consists of young people is false.

Since 95pc of 17 ministers amounts to 16 ministers, only one minister should be outside the youth category. However, at least four ministers are beyond this category as per age brackets defined for the youth by the UN, federal government, USAID and the world’s biggest medical library.