KARACHI, Dec 26: Dr Ishratul Ibad, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s nominee for the post of Sindh governor, would take oath of office on Friday.

According to some sources, soon after arriving from Islamabad, Ibad would be taken to the MQM headquarters, Nine Zero, in a procession and, in the afternoon, he would be administered oath amid reports that his appointment was linked to the party’s backing for the Jamali government in the trust vote.

After reaching Islamabad on Sunday, Dr Ibad had met President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali before his nomination was announced on the Christmas day. The announcement finally put all the speculation about delays in the notification to rest.

The announcement added that “notification in this regard will be issued shortly.”

MQM’s critics had expressed apprehension that Dr Ibad’s appointment as Sindh governor would lead to the widening of gulf between the peoples of Sindh, and some nationalists had even said they would mark the day he assumed office with protests.

They could not reconcile to a scenario in which the posts of governor and key ministers would remain with the MQM, making the CM virtually ineffective in governing the province. They were also perturbed over certain MQM demands for suspension of some officials in the law enforcement agencies and the civilian bureaucracy.

The critics were particularly worried over the local government portfolio going to the MQM as it had pledged to undo the present system. They feared that development work in the province might be affected owing to ‘clash of interests’.

Some of them had criticized his nomination because he was implicated in cases. However, the MQM sources have denied that cases are pending against him. The outgoing governor, Mohammadmian Soomro, has also said that he had approved the summary of Home Department for withdrawing certain cases against Mr Ibad.

But the MQM’s recently reinstated deputy convener, Aftab Shaikh, claimed the apprehensions were baseless and misleading and were deliberately publicized by the “forces that are not sincere to Sindh.”

He dispelled the impression that MQM had asked for withdrawing cases against its activists. “What we would expect is that decisions in the cases are expedited,” said Mr Shaikh.