Govt appoints Omar Sarfraz Cheema as new Punjab Governor

The federal government appointed Omar Sarfraz Cheema as the next Governor of the province following the abrupt sacking of Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar earlier on Sunday.

“Omar Sarfraz Cheema has been appointed the new Governor of Punjab,” Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, who was given the additional charge of law minister, tweeted.

A founding member of the PTI, Cheema is currently a vice-president of the PTI.

Earlier, Fawad announced that the federal government had removed Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar from his post.

"According to the constitution, the deputy speaker will be acting governor," Fawad wrote. "The new governor of Punjab will be announced later".

The development comes before crucial sessions of the National and Punjab assemblies. The National Assembly was set to vote on a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan. Similarly, following Usman Buzdar's resignation, the Punjab Assembly was all set to vote to elect a new leader of the house, with PML-Q's Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and PML-N's Hamza Shehbaz to go head to head in the race to become the next chief minister.

Yesterday's Punjab Assembly session, which commenced after a delay of four hours, was adjourned minutes after it began.

Crucial Punjab Assembly session adjourned till Sunday

Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, who presided over the session, adjourned the session till 11:30 am today.

On Friday, Sarwar had accepted Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar’s resignation. He had also summoned the Provincial Assembly session on Saturday.

Sardar Usman Buzdar called on Sarwar and the latter invited the former to complete the legal procedure of confirmation of the resignation tendered by him.

After the confirmation of resignation by Buzdar, the legal process was completed and the governor put his signature on his resignation.

PM, CM unfazed by turbulence?

It may be noted that Buzdar tendered his resignation on March 28 to Prime Minister Imran Khan when the latter nominated PML-Q leader and Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi for the slot of Punjab CM.

The governor received Buzdar’s resignation two days ago while the joint opposition also submitted a no-trust motion against Sardar Buzdar with the signatures of 127 MPAs.

In 2018, Buzdar had become the Punjab Chief Minister after 186 MPAs voted in his favour.

Last month, PM Imran held an important meeting with Sarwar in which various matters, including the political situation emerging after tabling a no-confidence motion by the opposition and the situation in Punjab, were discussed.