Race for Punjab governor still on

Intrigue continues despite ‘confirmations’ about Khosa; Gilani tries to push through nomination of his choice.

ISLAMABAD: A day after media reports had it that Senator Latif Khosa was all but confirmed as the new governor of Punjab, the intrigue around the appointment started afresh.

Sources told The Express Tribune that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had offered the coveted slot to Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who is currently holding the portfolio of foreign minister in his cabinet. However, Qureshi turned down the offer, sources said, perhaps because he wants to stay available in case there is a change in the leader of the house.

The fact is, Gilani is lobbying to bring a man of his own choice to replace Salmaan Taseer, who was gunned down on January 4.

Sources said that Gilani was deflecting political pressure from Nawaz Sharif to push through a nomination of his own choice.

Sources claimed that, though President Asif Ali Zardari had given a go-ahead for Khosa, widely seen as his loyalist, the president and the prime minister were not on the same page about the nomination of the new governor. The president is said to be awaiting a response from Gilani, who is said to be double-minded on the matter.

Sources also said that, soon after the assassination of Salmaan Taseer, an emotional president was eager to make Amna Taseer, the slain leader’s widow, the new governor of the province and had even discussed her name with some of his close aides.

After being advised against this, sources said, the president thought of Khosa, considering the fact that the man had been fighting his legal cases in difficult times without charging any fee. Zardari was also under the impression that Gilani had been unfair to Khosa over the  last two years. First, Gilani sacked Khosa as Attorney General of Pakistan after Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry sent a message to the premier to remove him following the revelation that he received money from petitioners in the name of the judges.

Later, upon Zardari’s insistence, Gilani appointed Khosa as his advisor on Information Technology, where he once again ended up in a fiasco. Once again Gilani forced him out of office unceremoniously.

The sources said Zardari wanted to compensate Khosa for this ‘humiliation’. However, Gilani was not impressed and instead met people at the Prime Minister House to discuss “someone more acceptable” to both him and the president.

The name of Khosa had been leaked to the media before it could be formally made part of the summary to be forwarded to the president.

Meanwhile, sources alleged that Gilani felt he had found a good way to sideline his likely replacement as the prime minister of Pakistan – Shah Mahmood Qureshi – and thus invited him to the Prime Minister House to make him an offer.

If Qureshi was to become Governor Punjab, he would not be able to contest elections for two years and thus he would not be in the race to become prime minister even after the next elections.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2011.