ISLAMABAD: Presi­dent Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday formally appro­ved the appointment of gov­ernors for Pun­jab, Khy­ber Pakhtunkhwa and Bal­o­chistan as per the power-sharing formula agreed upon by the parties in the ruling coalition, headed by the PML-N, after the Feb 8 general elections.

The president approved the appoi­n­t­ment of Sardar Saleem Haider as the governor of Punjab, Faisal Karim Kundi as KP governor and Sardar Jafar Khan Mandokhail as Balochis­tan governor, according to an official announcement from the presidency.

Both Mr Haider and Mr Kundi are considered PPP loyalists, whereas Mr Mandokhail is the president of PML-N’s Balochis­tan chapter.

Mr Haider, who belongs to Rawalpindi, will rep­lace PML-N’s Balighur Reh­man in Punjab and Mr Kundi hailing from Dera Ismail Khan will take over the charge in KP from Haji Ghulam Ali of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl).

MQM wants Tessori to continue as Sindh governor amid PPP’s reservations

Mr Kundi, who is presently PPP’s central information secretary, had ser­ved as the deputy speaker of the National Assembly.

After the appointment of three new governors, all eyes are now on Sindh where Kamran Tessori of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has been functioning as the governor.

After the Feb 8 elections, PPP and PML-N — with the support of other parties — had agreed on a cooperation mechanism to form a coalition government at the Centre. As part of the deal, PPP has already got the posts of president, Senate chairman and National Assembly deputy speaker. PML-N also agreed to appoint PPP leaders as governors of Punjab and KP. In return, PPP had agreed to the PML-N’s right to appoint its nominees in Sindh and Balochistan as governors.

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Sources said both the PML-N and PPP, for various reasons, wanted to remove Mr Tessori, but the two parties were unable to do so, because of the MQM-P’s crucial support to the coalition government in the Centre.

When contacted, senior MQM-P leader and MNA Dr Farooq Sattar said so far his party had not been approached by any side on the issue.

He, however, made it clear that during the talks in the past, the MQM-P had apprised the PML-N that it wanted Mr Tessori to continue as the governor of Sindh. He said whenever his party would receive any request regarding the change of governor, the issue would be discussed in the party’s coordination committee.

Another MQM-P leader and head of the party’s inter-provincial coordination committee Zahid Malik told Dawn that the party would resist any move to replace Mr Tessori, declaring that if the party was asked to name any person for the position, it would only be Mr Tessori.

Giving reasons, he said, Mr Tessori had made great contribution to party’s revival by taking several steps for the welfare of citizens.

He said PTI had claimed that after coming to power, it would turn PM and Governor Houses into varsities, whereas Mr Tessori had practically done so by setting up an IT institution in it.

He recalled that Mr Tessori had installed a ‘Bell of Hope’ outside Governor House for citizens to approach him. During Ramazan, he added, the governor had arranged iftar for people from his own pocket.

A Sindh cabinet member told Dawn on condition of anonymity that PPP had “serious” reservations over Mr Tessori’s presence in Governor House due to “some of his activities” and would definitely like to see him replaced with some other suitable person. However, he said under the agreement, it was PML-N’s prerogative to appoint Sindh governor.

President Zardari is reportedly not happy with Governor Tessori due to some of his actions before the general elections during the caretaker set-up and he had conveyed to PML-N and powerful quarters the requirement for a new governor. The PML-N is, however, keeping a silence on the matter.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2024