LAHORE: Punjab Gover­nor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar resigned on Thurs­day, citing his failure to achieve the goals he had set for himself while assuming the office on Aug 5, 2013.

“As governor I couldn’t succeed in solving problems of the masses,” he said at a press conference a couple of hours after announcing his resignation.

“I’m now more convinced than ever that I can better fight for the rights of wor­kers, peasants and deprived classes from outside the Governor’s House.”

Mr Sarwar denied that he resigned when asked to do so by the Presidency or the PM House as claimed by the state-run TV. An official, however, insisted that President Mamnoon Husain had called Governor Sarwar on Wednesday night to express “displeasure” at the latter’s statement on Presi­dent Obama’s visit to India.

In response, the official said, the governor resigned (verbally) saying “he cannot help saying the truth”.

He submitted his resig­nation in writing on Thurs­day which was accepted in the evening.

The resignation has been praised as a ‘positive develop­ment’ by sections of people who hoped that more sane souls in the corridors of power would follow suit.

Noted lawyer and rights activist Asma Jehangir termed it a good tradition that someone in power had resigned on his own. She said she expected that more people in the government would follow the tradition by resigning after failing to handle a crisis.

Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Mahmoodur Rashid and Ijaz Hashmi, provincial presi­dent of the JUP, an ally of the ruling PML-N, praised the resignation and urged the government to investi­gate the issues raised by Mr Sarwar at his press conference.

The outgoing governor spoke about the rising crime graph and helplessness of victims before oppressors. He alleged that land mafia and land-grabbers had become more influential than the governor.

Being an “outsider” he had tried to develop his clout within the PML-N cadre about six months ago through telephonic contacts inviting workers of the party to the Governor’s House. But by that time it was “too late” because the workers realised that he was losing the confidence of the Sharifs.

The leadership suspected that he was trying to play a role larger than the governor’s office is allowed. As a senior PML-N leader said: “Mr Sarwar is here to become an alternative choice for the post of prime minister in an interim or even ‘unconstitutional set-up’.”

He had developed a good rapport with the Sharifs, particularly with Shahbaz Sharif, when the brothers were in exile.

Accepting the post of governor, he was confident that he could work with the chief minister without fear of any personality clash. As a former British MP, he had used his good offices in the European parliament to win the GSP Plus status for Pakistan for the sake of financial stability needed by the Nawaz government.

But his bonhomie with the Shahbaz government did not last long and the latter began clipping the wings of the governor by withdrawing most of his powers.

Not losing heart, Mr Sarwar explored some “non-conventional” initiatives like starting a clean water project with the financial aid of friends among overseas Pakistanis.

The Punjab government again came in the way fearing that such initiatives could undermine the popularity of the chief minister and launched its own Saaf Paani project.

Both of them also differed on running the prestigious Aitchison College.

The chief minister was reluctant to let the governor play the role of a mediator when PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri refused to disembark the flight diverted from Islamabad to Lahore on June 23. But he had to give in when Mr Qadri refused to accept any other guarantor.

The governor’s meeting with MQM chief Altaf Husain in London reportedly without the consent of the prime minister proved to be another breaking point.

He offered to resign in October last year when the Islamabad sit-in was at its peak but Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did not accept it fearing that doing so could give the message that the structure of his government was falling apart and asked Mr Sarwar to give him time to consult his aides on the issue.

Syed Irfan Raza adds from Islamabad: President Mamnoon Hussain has accepted the resignation of Governor Sarwar.

An official announcement said: “On a summary initiated by the Cabinet Division, the president has approved the prime minister’s advice for acceptance of Governor Punjab Mr Muhammad Sarwar’s resignation.”

Sources in the presidency told Dawn that Mr Sarwar had sent his resignation directly to the president, but the presidency forwarded it to the government.

“The outgoing governor sent his resignation directly to the president a few hours after his announcement that he had resigned. But the presidency did not accept the resignation and sent it to the Prime Minister’s Office through the Cabinet Division.”

The presidency asked the Cabinet Division to prepare a summary and send it to the PM Office. The Cabinet Division prepared the summary and sent it to the PM Office which forwarded it to the presidency.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2015

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