May 16, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 10, 1429

LAHORE, May 15: Governor Khalid Maqbool on Thursday sent his resignation to President Pervez Musharraf following the appointment of Salmaan Taseer in his place.

Mr Taseer will take oath of his office at 6pm on Friday (today). The Lahore High Court chief justice will administer him the oath at the Governor’s House.

Salmaan Taseer is a former leader of the PPP, a chartered accountant and a businessman. He is the son of Dr M.D. Taseer, who was in the vanguard of the Progressive Writers’ Movement launched in the 1930s.

Dr Taseer married Bilqees Taseer, formerly known as Christobel and a sister of Alys Faiz Ahmad Faiz.

Salmaan Taseer initially set up two chartered accountancy and management consultancy firms. In 1995, he established a capital securities corporation, which has been involved in establishing other companies in the financial services sector as well as the telecommunication, insurance and real estate development sectors in Pakistan.

At present, he is also running real estate development business, building two hotels in Lahore and Karachi. He collaborated with Gulf investors, convincing them to invest here in telecommunication sector.

Owning a media group, Taseer is serving as a member of the Board of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, and is on the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Fund Company Ltd.

He was the federal minister for industry and production in the caretaker government, which conducted the recent general elections.

Mr Taseer became an MPA from Lahore after winning the 1988 election from the PPP platform. He was made the leader of the opposition in Punjab after Sardar Farooq Ahmad Leghari, the PPP candidate for chief minister’s slot, failed in his bid to form government in the province and preferred to take oath as an MNA.

In the 1988 election, he defeated Islami Jamhoori Ittehad’s candidate Munir Ahmad Anjum by a margin of nearly 15,000 votes. The MNA seat from the same Lahore constituency was won by Ms Benazir Bhutto.

In 1990 and then in 1993 elections, he contested NA-94 but was defeated by PML-N candidates Mian Umer Hayat and Mian Abdul Waheed. Following that he withdrew from politics and concentrated on his business.