ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari finalised the names of the governors for Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Balochistan in their meeting at the Prime Minister House on Friday.
Since nothing has officially been released about the meeting, sources said that the prime minister and the PPP chairman approved the names of Sardar Salem Haider for the governorship of Punjab, Faisal Kareem Kundi for K-P and Jaffar Mandokhail for Balochistan.
Sources in both the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the PPP revealed that the prime minister had decided that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) – a government ally—would retain Sindh’s governorship and the incumbent, Kamran Tessori, would continue in the post.
The three names chosen for the governorship have longstanding affiliation with their respective parties. Haider has prior experience as special assistant to the prime minister on overseas Pakistanis and served as minister of state for defence and defence production.
Kundi, a former deputy speaker of the National Assembly, is currently the information secretary of the PPP, while Mandokhel, a senior PML-N leader, had been elected as member of the Balochistan Assembly multiple times.
Under a power-sharing formula agreed between the PML-N and the PPP before forming the government at the Centre, it was decided that the PPP would take the offices of the President, the Senate chairman and the National
Assembly deputy speaker and the governorship of Punjab and K-P.
In return, the PML-N got the offices of the prime minister, National Assembly speaker, Senate deputy chairman and governorships of Sindh and Balochistan. Post-elections, the PML-N and the PPPP had agreed that both the parties would support each other when the elections were held.
