RAWALPINDI: Gen Mohammad Musa, Commander-in-Chief, Pakistan Army, has been appointed Governor of West Pakistan, it was officially announced here today [Sept 17].

He succeeds Malik Amir Mohammad Khan of Kalabagh whose resignation has been accepted by President Ayub. The resignation becomes effective tomorrow when the new Governor will be sworn in here at 11 a.m.

In announcing the change, the President said that Malik Amir Mohammad Khan had tendered his resignation “for private reasons” and he had “very reluctantly” accepted the resignation. The President said that during his tenure of office, Malik Amir Mohammad Khan “gave his very best and I have expressed my appreciation of his contribution during the difficult period we have been passing through for some years”.

The Governor-designate, Gen Musa, as Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army since 1958, was due to retire on October 27 this year. He had been named as Pakistan’s Ambassador to Iran. Lt-Gen A.M. Yahya Khan, the Deputy C-in-C, who is to succeed Gen Musa as the C-in-C, will now take over his new post sooner than scheduled.

Malik Amir Mohammad Khan has resigned after being Governor of the Province for nearly five and a half years. He left Rawalpindi for Kalabagh today and was seen off by Provincial Ministers, MNAs and MPAs.

Published in Dawn September 18th, 2016