MQM-P's Kamran Tessori appointed Sindh governor

President Arif Alvi approves appointment after a delay of nearly seven months

KARACHI:

In a major development, President Dr Arif Alvi on Sunday appointed Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Kamran Tessori as Sindh governor after a delay of nearly seven months.

In a press release, a spokesperson of the President House said that the appointment was made under Article 101.

Kamran Tessori, a gold trader who had parted ways with the MQM-P in 2017, rejoined the party a while back as deputy convenor and has now been named the governor of Sindh.

"MQM-P led by Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui had recommended his name despite the severe differences in the party over his nomination," a senior leader of the party, requesting not to be named, told the Express Tribune and said that many MQM-P leaders had also protested when Tessori was given the re-entry in the party.

Read Sindh governor’s post a new bone of contention

The post had been lying vacant since Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Imran Ismail had tendered his resignation in April following the removal of PTI chief Imran Khan as premier through a no-confidence vote in the parliament.

In the meanwhile, Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani had been performing as the acting governor of the province, while a decision to name a new governor, had been hanging in the air.

It is pertinent to note that the incumbent federal government’s coalition partner, MQM-P, who were given the opportunity to name someone from their ranks for the slot, had initially nominated Nasreen Jalil.

However, after Jalil’s name was recommended, the PTI, in particular, started online vitriol of her, pointing out that she had written a letter, a copy of which is available with the Express Tribune, to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, back in 2015, and asked of them to take note of the “lawlessness of the law enforcement agencies” and to use their office “in improving the situation for urban Sindh.”

MQM-P’s Rabita Committee member, Zahid Mansoori, when asked if the letter was the reason that Jalil’s name had been rejected, had replied in the negative stating that the current delay in nominating a name for governor was the party’s own doing.