Gilgit-Baltistan: Pir Karam Ali Shah picked to be governor
The post was lying vacant for more than four months after the death of the first G-B Governor Dr Shama Khalid.
ISLAMABAD:
The federal government decided on Monday to appoint Pir Karam Ali Shah as the new governor of Gilgit-Baltistan. The post was lying vacant for more than four months after the death of the first G-B Governor Dr Shama Khalid, who died on September 15 last year.
Sources said that the decision was taken by President Asif Ali Zardari in consultation with Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and other party leaders. However, a notification to this effect has not yet been issued. It is likely that the notification will be issued today.
Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly Speaker Wazir Baig was performing as acting governor since the death of the first governor.
Shah along with G-B Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah held separate meetings with Zardari and the prime minister on Monday. Shah is a sitting member of the G-B Legislative Assembly and is considered one of the stalwarts of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Shah was a close aide of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and also served as the first deputy chief executive of the then Northern Areas Legislative Council under the Legal Framework Order during the first stint of the PPP government in the 1990s.
Meanwhile, several political parties in Gilgit have welcomed appointment of Shah as the governor. “We expect that the new governor will utilise his experience for the development of the region,” Hafiz ur Rehman, the provincial chief of PML-N told The Express Tribune on Monday. (additional reporting by shabbir mir)
Published in The Express Tribune, January 25th, 2011.
The federal government decided on Monday to appoint Pir Karam Ali Shah as the new governor of Gilgit-Baltistan. The post was lying vacant for more than four months after the death of the first G-B Governor Dr Shama Khalid, who died on September 15 last year.
Sources said that the decision was taken by President Asif Ali Zardari in consultation with Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and other party leaders. However, a notification to this effect has not yet been issued. It is likely that the notification will be issued today.
Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly Speaker Wazir Baig was performing as acting governor since the death of the first governor.
Shah along with G-B Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah held separate meetings with Zardari and the prime minister on Monday. Shah is a sitting member of the G-B Legislative Assembly and is considered one of the stalwarts of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Shah was a close aide of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and also served as the first deputy chief executive of the then Northern Areas Legislative Council under the Legal Framework Order during the first stint of the PPP government in the 1990s.
Meanwhile, several political parties in Gilgit have welcomed appointment of Shah as the governor. “We expect that the new governor will utilise his experience for the development of the region,” Hafiz ur Rehman, the provincial chief of PML-N told The Express Tribune on Monday. (additional reporting by shabbir mir)
Published in The Express Tribune, January 25th, 2011.