Coveted posts: Shahbaz backs ex-British MP as Punjab governor
Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar also offered post of Pakistan’s high commissioner to UK.
Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar. PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) has offered Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar two positions, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to British or Punjab governor, The Express Tribune has learnt. Sarwar is a British national and former Labour MP from Glasgow.
PML-N sources said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is keen to see Sarwar as high commissioner to the UK while Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif wants to make him Punjab governor due to his loyalty and commitment towards the party.
Sarwar has close relations with Sharif brothers and they had assigned him Faisalabad district to finalise candidates for general election. Sarwar belongs to Rojhana village Pir Mahel district Faisalabad. All his family members are British nationals and they live in UK. His son Anas Sarwar has replaced him as MP.
Top sources in PML-N said that senior leadership urged Sharifs to make Sarwar high commissioner if he so desires since he has good relations with business community in the UK. The leadership maintains that governorship has traditionally remained with south Punjab, sources said.
The PML-N leadership has told the Sharifs that Sarwar will have to relinquish his dual nationality for any of the said positions, sources said.
Federal Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid while talking with The Express Tribune said he had no knowledge about this development. He said that leadership did not discuss this issue before him.
Independent Senator Mohsin Khan Leghari said the Punjab cabinet has very few ministers from South Punjab and appointment of a ‘viceroy’ would create a sense of alienation and deprivation in the area.
He said his whole life Sarwar enjoyed politics in the UK and proposing his name for Punjab governor is beyond reason.
He said that if PML-N wants to end the impression that it has neglected south Punjab it should appoint the new governor from this area.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2013.
Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) has offered Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar two positions, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to British or Punjab governor, The Express Tribune has learnt. Sarwar is a British national and former Labour MP from Glasgow.
PML-N sources said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is keen to see Sarwar as high commissioner to the UK while Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif wants to make him Punjab governor due to his loyalty and commitment towards the party.
Sarwar has close relations with Sharif brothers and they had assigned him Faisalabad district to finalise candidates for general election. Sarwar belongs to Rojhana village Pir Mahel district Faisalabad. All his family members are British nationals and they live in UK. His son Anas Sarwar has replaced him as MP.
Top sources in PML-N said that senior leadership urged Sharifs to make Sarwar high commissioner if he so desires since he has good relations with business community in the UK. The leadership maintains that governorship has traditionally remained with south Punjab, sources said.
The PML-N leadership has told the Sharifs that Sarwar will have to relinquish his dual nationality for any of the said positions, sources said.
Federal Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid while talking with The Express Tribune said he had no knowledge about this development. He said that leadership did not discuss this issue before him.
Independent Senator Mohsin Khan Leghari said the Punjab cabinet has very few ministers from South Punjab and appointment of a ‘viceroy’ would create a sense of alienation and deprivation in the area.
He said his whole life Sarwar enjoyed politics in the UK and proposing his name for Punjab governor is beyond reason.
He said that if PML-N wants to end the impression that it has neglected south Punjab it should appoint the new governor from this area.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2013.