After 14 years, Ebad relinquishes gubernatorial office

Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui appointed new Sindh governor

ISLAMABAD: Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan, the longest-serving governor in the country’s history, will relinquish his gubernatorial office after the federal government appointed former chief justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui as new governor of Sindh.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved Siddiqui’s appointment on Wednesday, which was later notified by President Mamnoon Hussain. The Presidency confirmed the gubernatorial change in Sindh, though there was no official word from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Ebad, who served as Sindh governor for 14 years, stepped aside after he had unofficially been conveyed a few days back that the government wanted to replace him. “He was not sacked,” credible officials told The Express Tribune.

The change was necessitated by the changing political landscape in Sindh, particularly in Karachi, where the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, to which Ebad once belonged, has received a dent and other political groups want to cash in on the situation, according to insiders.

By and large, the security establishment, and federal and provincial governments are in agreement on the new political arrangement in Karachi, say officials. “After initial tiff, it’s now smooth-sailing between the federal and Sindh governments,” says a reliable source.



The minus-Altaf formula had long been in the works because the MQM founder and his London-based coterie were accused of stoking unrest in Karachi, the commercial hub of the country, at the behest of hostile foreign agencies, especially India’s RAW.

The August 22 telephone speech of Altaf, which was construed as anti-state and inciteful, came in as a godsend. The Karachi-based leadership was quick to disassociate itself from Altaf and disown the London-based leaders. Subsequently, Dr Farooq Sattar and other elected representatives of the MQM rebranded the party as MQM-Pakistan.

In the meantime, former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal, who had quit the MQM to form his own group, Pak Sarzameen Party, was weakening his former party by attracting senior leaders of the MQM. He has not been very successful, though some key figures jumped the ship to join hands with him.

But in a surprising twist, Kamal recently turned his guns towards Governor Ebad, accusing him of providing ‘oxygen’ to Altaf and his clique. Rumour has it that Ebad planned to launch a third faction in the MQM. Ebad paid Kamal in the same coin.

“It’s a turf war. And everybody wants to have the lion’s share,” a senior government official told The Express Tribune. “No party is willing to let go of the opportunity.”

Ebad’s scathing rejoinder to Kamal had taken many by surprise. But sources believe it was part of the plan. Ebad knew that he was going to be replaced and it was time for him to break the silence and make himself heard.

Constitutionally, Ebad cannot contest election for a public office for two years. “For now, he will have a passive role, he will be more vocal and articulate, though,” the official said.



If media speculations are to believe former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who heads his own All Pakistan Muslim League party, is likely get a key role in Karachi’s politics, especially after his recent meeting with MQM-Pakistan leaders.

But sources say Musharraf would only have a fatherly figure’s role for the MQM-Pakistan “until Ebad is in the saddle” after the two-year constitutional bar.

Ebad the longest serving governor

Once a trusted confidante of Altaf, Ebad was appointed Sindh Governor on December 27, 2002 by Musharraf. During his longest stint, he had worked with three governments. Last year, the MQM publically dissociated itself from Ebad saying he was ‘least bothered’ about MQM’s demands. Ebad was regarded as a bridge between security establishment, Sindh and federal governments and the MQM, even though his tenure followed political controversies stemming from serious accusations.

Siddiqui, the new Governor Sindh

Justice (retd) Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui is a former chief justice of Pakistan (July 1999-January 2000). He remained chief justice of the Sindh High Court from November 1990 to May 1992. Siddiqui is associated with the PML-N and he had refused to take oath as a Supreme Court judge under the controversial Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) during the Musharraf era and resigned. Siddiqui was PML-N’s candidate in the 2008 presidential polls against PPP’s Asif Zardari. In the famous row between the then Sharif-led federal government and CJP Sajjad Ali Shah in 1997, Siddiqui and other judges are said to have sided with the PML-N government, which had eventually led to Shah’s ouster.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2016.