Coveted office: Saud Majeed may be named governor today

Announcement likely after a meeting today between prime minister and Majeed.

LAHORE: The federal government is likely to appoint Muhammad Saud Majeed as the new governor for the province on Friday (today), The Express Tribune has learnt.

A source in the chief minister’s secretariat has said that the appointment may be announced after a meeting scheduled on Friday between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Majeed.

Talking to the Tribune, Majeed confirmed that he was scheduled to meet the prime minister.

However, he refused to comment on whether or not the federal government was considering him for the office of the governor.

Majeed has said that the agenda of the meeting includes consultation on selection of party candidates for upcoming by-elections in Multan and Mandi Bahauddin districts.

Majeed belongs to Bahawalpur district.

He is one of the politicians from southern Punjab who had remained loyal to the Sharif brothers during the military government of General Pervez Musharraf. He has served as head of the public policy affairs at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.

The office of the governor has been vacant after Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar’s resignation on January 28. Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal has since been serving as an acting governor for the province.

Meanwhile, a petition seeking Iqbal’s removal from the caretaker officer and directions for the federal government to make a permanent appointment to the office is pending a hearing with the Lahore High Court (LHC).

Published in The Express Tribune, May 1^st, 2015.