Photo courtesy Facebook
PTI stalwart picked to replace sacked Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar
Following the abrupt sacking of Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar as Governor of Punjab, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government on Sunday announced that party stalwart Omar Sarfraz Cheema will serve as the next governor of the province.
“Omar Sarfraz Cheema has been appointed the new Governor of Punjab,” Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said in a posting on Twitter. A founding member of the PTI, Cheema is currently a vice-president of the PTI. After joining the PTI in 1996, he contested the 1997, 2002 and 2004 elections as a PTI candidate, and has worked in the party organization at tehsil, district, province and central level member of the party’s central executive committee since 1997.
Prior to assuming office, he would need to be sworn in as the 38th Governor of Punjab. The oath of office is administered by the chief justice of the Lahore High Court and would likely be scheduled in the coming week.
Earlier, the PTI-led government had announced the sacking of Sarwar, with the information minister saying a replacement would be named later. The announcement came mere hours before the Punjab Assembly is set to elect a new leader of the house following the resignation of Usman Buzdar.