Latif Khosa is Punjab's new governor

The appointment of a Zardari loyalist as governor of Punjab was expected, but what was not expected was the warmth with which the new appointee, Sardar Latif Khosa, has been welcomed by the PML (N), the majority party in the Punjab Assembly.
Latif Khosa is not the red rag that his predecessor Salmaan Taseer was intended to be and was, to the party in power. His appointment is a positive development in these otherwise gloomy and frustrating times when the nation is beset with dire hopelessness over the poor performance of the elected elite. There is a good reason to heave a sigh of relief, especially when what, sometime back, looked so much inevitable - Babar Awan taking residence in Lahore's most spacious house - has not taken place.
Over the last one year or so, Babar Awan has been a frequent visitor of Punjab, brandishing his anti-Sharifs agenda to the great pleasure of quite a few PPP 'jiyalas'. While Shahbaz Sharif attended Khosa's oath-taking ceremony, Babar was conspicuously absent - not to be missed by the new governor who is said to be of the opinion that his son, Khurram Latif Khosa, lost his election to the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) only because of Babar Awan's machinations.
Latif Khosa is an old-timer PPP activist, but he hit the headlines only in recent times. One in-irascible image of his is the bleeding forehead he suffered at the hands of anti-riot Islamabad police during a lawyers' protest in support of the judges' reinstatement. But that positivism disappeared when he lost his job as the Attorney General in the wake of the Punjab Bank scam.
He was under the spotlight once again when Prime Minister Gilani showed him the door following a controversy over his differences with the prime minister on running the IT ministry. Since the personal life of a public office holder is no more an issue of his/her eligibility to high offices in Pakistan, Governor Latif Khosa is not likely to be greatly worried about his so-called 'tainted' past.
In Punjab he has the solid backing of the lawyers' community, who would be there in case he needed public support, which Salmaan Taseer did not have. But such a situation is not likely to arise, given that the much needed 'live and let live' attitudes are going to prevail, replacing the acrimonious relationship between the PPP and PML (N) in Punjab which characterised their co-existence as coalition partners.
Under the constitution the role of a governor is largely ceremonial. He/she acts as a representative of the Federation and holds office "during the pleasure of the President". But as mandated by the 18th Amendment, "the Governor shall act on and in accordance with the advice of the Cabinet (or Chief Minister)". Given that two different and opposing parties rule in the Centre and Punjab, the new governor may have to do a lot of tight-rope walking to ensure compliance with the orders of the Federal government without running afoul of the provincial government's sensitivities.
His predecessor appeared to have often acted beyond his constitutional mandate, precipitating unnecessary tensions between the federal and provincial governments. Latif Khosa is expected to maintain discreet neutrality, which has been of late, missing so much in Punjab and had vitiated the atmosphere congenial to obtaining a pluralistic polity in Pakistan.