KABUL (PAN): Three of the 23 cabinet picks announced by President Hamid Karzai appeared on Monday before the Wolesi Jirga, lower house of parliament, for approval and answering queries from lawmakers. Ministers-designate of defence, justice and education -- Abdul Rahim Wardak, Sarwar Danish and Dr. Farooq Wardak respectively -- reached the house well in time. But proceedings begin at 9.40am 40 minutes behind schedule. With few members attending the important session, the house decided that one member each of the 18 parliamentary commissions would have the right to pose questions to the nominees for cabinet slots. A day earlier, the MPs asked President Hamid Karzai to give them a complete list of 25 ministers, who would present their work plans to the house before seeking trust vote. The members said they would vote simultaneously for or against the new picks. Also on Sunday, Karzai told reporters a new foreign minister could not be introduced to parliament until an upcoming international conference on Afghanistan in London. That was why the acting minister, Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, would attend the moot, he argued. But the presidential remarks drew ire from several legislators. A public representative from southern Ghazni province, Amir Muhammad Niazi, said: "Come what may, we won't vote unless a foreign minister-designate is introduced to us." In response, Speaker Yunus Qanuni said Dr. Spanta had done a lot of homework in terms of Afghanistan's preparations for participation in the important event. The participation of a new minister would be problematic, he believed. Another lawmaker, Dr. Fatima Azizi, also opposed the decision on the number of questions posed to the nominees. She said they had dozens of queries regarding the ministers' past conduct and their future plans. "All MPs, not 18 commission members, should be given a chance to ask the ministers questions. I have lots of queries and want to convey their answers to my voters," she observed. But the speaker responded since the house had a lot to do in a relatively short time, members should avoid hot debates and instead take a decision that transcended narrow linguistic and ethnic considerations. Later, the legislators started grilling the three ministers-designates. Translated & edited by S. Mudassir Ali Shah