LAHORE: Unlike his predecessor Chaudhry Sarwar, incumbent Punjab Governor Rafiq Rajwana does not consider himself as a powerless representative of the federal government in the province though the Shahbaz government has withdrawn most of his powers through amendments to various laws.

The claim becomes significant in the wake of Sarwar’s assertion while resigning as governor that it was the most powerless office he had ever held.

An optimist, Mr Rajwana claims he is equipped with the most effective powers – the trust his party (PML-N) leadership has in his person and includes him in consultations on various policies.

“I still enjoy two kinds of powers, one is the constitutional one and the other consultative ‘power’ and the trust my leadership shows in me by including me in the consultation processes and accepting most of my advices,” a former senator from southern Punjab told a select group of reporters here on Thursday.

His claim is supported by a meeting of the cabinet’s sub-committee on law and order he chaired at Governor’s House on Thursday.

It was, perhaps, the first time after all-powerful ex-governor Lt-Gen (retired) Khalid Maqbool’s tenure that such a high-level meeting was chaired by the governor. Among others it was attended by the home secretary and Punjab police IG. It discussed security affairs of educational institutions.

He laments that elected public representatives are not doing the public service which they can without needing resources or extraordinary efforts. To elaborate his point, he says that the MPs could have unearthed ghost schools and teachers, basic health units and doctors without help from any agency and thus contributed to the welfare of their respective constituencies.

Similarly, he suggests that constituents should also shun their lethargy and become activists by raising their voice collectively to get their problems resolved. He asserts that no MP can afford to ignore if 50 voters jointly come to him seeking his help on a certain issue.

Mr Rajwana, who as senator, had been chairing a sub-committee of the South Punjab Empowerment Committee comprising all MPs from the southern region formed by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, says it had recommended setting up of a mini-civil secretariat at Multan or Bahawalpur where top officials of important provincial departments like health, education, communication and work, irrigation should be housed to take care of the people’s problems at local level.

He was not aware about the progress made on the suggestions since he took oath as the governor.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2015

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