KARACHI: Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar, Pak­istan Minister for Communications, has been appointed Governor of the West Punjab, it was officially announced on Wednesday [July 20] He will succeed Sir Francis Mudie... .

[Editorial adds,] The appointment of Sardar Abdur Rab Nishtar as Sir Francis Mudie’s successor completes the nationalisation of gubernatorial offices in West Pakistan. Public opinion will hail the choice as particularly felicitous, although the transfer of Sardar Nishtar to this new sphere will deprive the Central Cabinet of an elder statesman.

... In the present state of West Punjab’s affairs the new Governor’s task does not promise to be a smooth one. The suspension of the Constitution last January solved some problems but created others, and the inability of Sir Francis Mudie to outgrow the ways of sun-dried bureaucracy made matters worse. An urgent need has been increasingly felt by the well wishers of that province for a complete cleaning of the slate and writing on it afresh. That will be the new Governor’s initial task and in this the Provincial Muslim League should be able to extend to him its full and unreserved co-operation.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2024