ISLAMABAD: The removal of Governor Punjab Omar Sarfaraz Cheema has become a controversy with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson confirming that the governor has been sacked, while the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) claiming that President Dr Arif Alvi has not yet received any summary to this effect and that Cheema would continue to serve as governor.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb confirmed to journalists on Sunday that the federal government has removed Governor Punjab Omar Cheema through a summary forwarded by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to President Dr Arif Alvi – a PTI man in the presidency.

She said that the Prime Minister forwarded the summary while using his discretionary powers.

However, through a tweet, senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said that President Alvi has denied removal of Governor Punjab. “The powers to remove the governor, rest with the President. No such summary has yet reached to his office. Therefore, Omar Cheema will continue to serve as Governor Punjab,” Fawad Chaudhry said in a tweet.

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However, sources said that the President is bound by the law to issue notification upon receiving the summary from the Prime Minister. They said that after removal of the PTI’s man in the office of Governor Punjab, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Makhdoom Ahmad Mahmood would be appointed as the new Governor Punjab.

Earlier in the day, Governor Punjab Cheema through a press conference delayed the oath taking of the newly elected chief minister Punjab Hamza Shehbaz while questioning his election process which held on Saturday amid violent incidents in the provincial assembly.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022