Political limbo ends as Punjab cabinet sworn in

Alvi green-lights PML-N's Rehman as Punjab governor

ISLAMABAD:

The dust on the drawn-out tussle over the control of Punjab settled on Monday night after President Arif Alvi green-lighted the appointment of PML-N’s Muhammad Balighur Rehman as Punjab’s governor, instantly thawing the frozen process of forming the new provincial cabinet.

Hours after being green-lighted as a new governor, Rehman administered the oath to the ministers at a ceremony held at the Governor’s House past midnight in a swift move by the Punjab government to steady its boat in the country’s political heartland.

In what was described as the first phase of induction, seven MPAs were appointed provincial ministers while one of them was taken in as an adviser, putting the strength of the provincial cabinet at eight for now.

Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz was also present at the oath-taking ceremony. Rana Muhammad Iqbal, Ata Tarar, Ali Haider Gilani and Awais Leghari were among those who were sworn in. Besides, Salman Rafique, Malik Ahmad Khan, Hassan Murtaza and Bilal Asghar also took the oath.

As per the initial details, PML-N’s Attaullah Tarar was appointed as the home minister, Malik Ahmad Khan took charge of the law ministry and parliamentary affairs and Khawaja Salman Rafique assumed the charge as the health minister.

PPP’s Hassan Murtaza will be the senior minister while Awais Leghari has been given the portfolio of local government.

The oath came as Punjab remained deadlocked for weeks over the new governor’s appointment controversy which mushroomed into a constitutional crisis and left the political heartland in limbo and with no effective government.

صدر مملکت ڈاکٹر عارف علوی نےمحمد بلیغ الرحمٰن کی بطور گورنر پنجاب تعیناتی کی منظوری دے دی

صدر مملکت نے منظوری وزیر اعظم کی ایڈوائس پر آئین کے آرٹیکل 101 (1) کے تحت دی

— The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) May 30, 2022

President okays Rehman’s appointment amid criticism

Earlier, in the day, President Arif Alvi approved the appointment of PML-N’s Balighur Rehman as the new Punjab governor on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif under Article 101 (1) of the Constitution after rejecting the summary twice in the last few weeks.

Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti administered the oath to the new governor.
Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz, officials and dignitaries attended the oath-taking ceremony.

However, the president continues to face a barrage of criticism from the government over his attempts to "stonewall" the new dispensation's decisions.

Although the president has finally accorded assent to the appointment, which helped end a weeks-long deadlock with the premier over the constitutional office, the federal cabinet has sought past record to gauge his conduct regarding approvals and reconsideration of the summaries which "amounted to subverting constitutional process".

‘Engineered constitutional vacuum'

Among other things, the Prime Minister Office saw President Alvi and Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi’s actions leading to an “engineered constitutional vacuum” in the political heartland of the country.

In a meeting on May 24, the federal cabinet took note of the briefing by the minister for law and justice on the matter pertaining to the advices tendered by the prime minister to the president and expressed serious concern and reservation about the latter's conduct which, it said, amounted to "subverting the Constitutional process and such was condemnable in a parliamentary democracy".

“The late responses had created a situation impeding the prime minister in the discharge of his executive functions,” the cabinet noted.

Subsequently, the cabinet division was directed to formulate a self-contained consolidated statement regarding the date of submission of cases with approvals and reconsideration.

Furthermore, the cabinet has sought the record of the cases submitted and advices tendered by former premier  Imran Khan to late President Mamnoon Hussain and to President Alvi.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister Office noted that the president, in violation of the mandate of the Constitution including Article 5, 48, 101 and other enabling provisions of the Constitution, Rules of Business and the law, has finally disposed of the matter of appointment of governor Punjab against the repeated reconsidered advice fo the prime minister.

The PM Office noted that the Punjab Assembly's speaker also failed to perform the constitutional duties entrusted to him under Article 104 of the Constitution and his oath of office.

“The above situation has resulted in an engineered constitutional vacuum in the largest province of the country, which at the moment is without a cabinet even after weeks of the appointment of chief minister of the province,” the PM Office noted.

It may be recalled that even before the president’s approval, the federal cabinet had approved on May 23 the appointment of Rehman as Punjab's governor with immediate effect through a circulation summary amid an ongoing logjam over the governor’s appointment.

Previously, the federal government had nominated Rehman as the new governor of Punjab and the summary to replace PTI-appointed Punjab Governor Omar Sarfaraz Cheema was sent to President Arif Alvi but it was turned down.

The PML-N-led coalition government had approached President Alvi twice for Cheema’s removal but the President not only turned down the summary on both occasions but instructed Cheema to continue holding office until a decision was made on the summary seeking his removal.

Rehman’s appointment is crucial for PM Shehbaz-led government as Cheema gave a tough time to the government ever since former premier Imran Khan replaced Cheema by sacking ex-Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar.