Pakistan's new Cabinet took oath on Friday but Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's name did not figure in the first batch of ministers sworn in. The exercise follows the Government's calls for a new and smaller Cabinet. Most of the old faces were inducted into the Cabinet. A total of 21 federal ministers and a minister of state were administered oath by President Asif Ali Zardari at a ceremony at the Presidential House. Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was less than well disposed towards India, was stripped of his portfolio as foreign minister in the reconstitution of the Pakistan federal Cabinet, following which he refused to take oath. The decision to drop Qureshi comes shortly before India and Pakistan are to resume their stalled dialogue process.