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ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: The federal government on Monday appointed Muhammad Zubair, a leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Chairman of the Privatisation Commission, the 32nd governor of Sindh, a senior official at the Presidency told Dawn.
President Mamnoon Hussain approved a summary about Mr Zubair’s appointment as the governor. He is likely to take the oath of his office in a couple of days.
The decision about Mr Zubair’s appointment made its way to the media soon after a meeting of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with President Hussain in the Presidency on Monday. A source in the Prime Minister Office said Mr Sharif had apprised the president of the government’s decision to appoint Mr Zubair the Sindh governor.
Mr Zubair, a brother of Asad Umer, a central leader of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, at present leads the PML-N government’s much-hyped, yet controversial, privatisation policy in the country. He is considered to be a close aide to Prime Minister Sharif.
The office of governor fell vacant after Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui died following a long illness on Jan13 after serving for merely two months that made him the shortest-serving governor in Sindh’s history. It took the government more than two weeks to finalise the name of the new governor after much wrangling among those aspiring for the top post.
“Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, in his recent meeting with Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, had communicated about Islamabad’s decision to appoint Mr Zubair as the new governor and sought his take. It was certainly communicated to the senior leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party,” said a source in the Sindh government. Mr Zubair did his MBA from the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, taught financial management at the institute in the 1980s and worked with the IBM. He assisted his party in economic and tax reforms. He was appointed chairman of the Board of Investment on July 12, 2013, and of the Privatisation Commission in December 2013.
Published in Dawn January 31st, 2017
