K-P governor: PML-N finalises Sardar Mehtab Abbasi’s name

Officials say incumbent governor Shaukatullah to be replaced next week.

PESHAWAR:

Contrary to aspirations of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s provincial leadership, the party has settled Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan Abbasi to be the new governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

A PML-N official told The Express Tribune on Thursday that the party chief and prime minister has finalised Abbasi’s name.

“Abbasi is currently the leader of the opposition in K-P Assembly and is going to tender his resignation in a day or two so that he can take up his new role [as governor]”, he informed this correspondent.

In the coming week, the party’s central leader – most likely PM Nawaz himself – will attend Abbasi’s oath-taking ceremony.

But the decision did not come easy for the party as officials claim PML-N had to deal with internal politics and lobbying before the name was finalised. The party’s K-P chapter youth wing, women’s wing, lawyers’ wing and other leaders even passed resolutions in favour of Jhagra’s candidature.

Sardar Mehtab Abbasi could not be reached for comments.

When contacted, the PML-N provincial general secretary Rahmat Salam Khattak said, “In Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, K-P will have a good administrator.” But he did not confirm whether Abbasi’s candidature had been finalised or not.

The Express Tribune learnt that with Abbasi’s resignation from the K-P assembly, the vacant post of leader of the opposition will be lent to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s Maulana Lutufur Rahman, who is currently deputy opposition leader in the Assembly.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2014.