Overview

Pakistan has four provinces namely, Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Baluchistan. Punjab is one of the most reputed and populous province is suffering from multiple issues. These include legal, political and constitutional crises due to which the country is suffering from political turmoil. This is evident from the fact of removal of Omar Sarfraz Cheema, the governor of Punjab forcefully. Moreover, the most prominent thing is that this governor house has been kept vacant for few days as well. If the current government keeps on doing these kind of illegal acts, there is danger of forcing people to strike against all illegal and unconstitutional acts. 

Article Detailed Description

Unlawful act against Mr. Usman Buzdar

Mr. Cheema is adamant that the resignation letter that former Chief Minister Usman Buzdar drew up and sent to the Prime Minister was unlawful. In the early morning hours of Wednesday, he tweeted, “Former governor Chaudhry Sarwar had unconstitutionally accepted Buzdar’s unconstitutional resignation for a PML-N ticket — despite the objections of the party’s senior leaders,” which was a reference to a statement that the former governor had made – latest news update reported.

Pressure to accept Resignation of Usman Buzdar

An “official supporting” Twitter account of the former governor, Team Sarwar, tweeted that Mr. Buzdar’s resignation had been accepted on the call of the then prime minister, Imran Khan, as well as after formal verification by Buzdar himself in a meeting with Sarwar at Governor House. Mr. Sarwar stepped in to clarify his position, and Team Sarwar tweeted that Mr. Buzdar’s resignation had been accepted on the call of the then prime minister, Imran Khan. In addition, the tweet stated that PA Speaker Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and six provincial ministers were exerting pressure for the resignation to be accepted immediately. However, later on in the evening, this tweet was removed from Twitter, according to recent news.

The account had previously stated in a tweet that Chaudhry Sarwar had not chosen a path for his political future and that he had not made any decision about it.

Governor House remained Vacant

The PML-N coalition government has made its way into Punjab while successfully managing the election of the chief minister, administering the oath of office to the CM-elect, and ultimately removing the governor from office. Despite this, Governor House has been completely unoccupied for the past few days, according to recent news.

Ongoing Crises in Punjab

The outgoing governor of Punjab, Cheema, has stated that the province is currently experiencing a serious constitutional, legal, and political crisis. He has also issued a warning to the PML-N government, stating that it should not force the people of Punjab to take to the streets in order to hold the government accountable for its “illegal and unconstitutional” actions in the province –latest news update reported.

He went on to say that the Punjab police had barricaded the entrance to his office at Governor House, and that he was forced to work alone.

The appointment of the Governor

The political crisis in Punjab is getting worse by the day as both the PTI and the PML-N camps are adamant that they are on the right side of the law and the Constitution regarding the election of the chief minister, his oath, and the removal of the governor. The political crisis in Punjab is getting worse by the day, according to recent news.

Legal eagles on both sides have interpreted the Constitution in a way that is favourable to their respective narratives. The superior courts are currently hearing a case regarding the CM’s election, and on Thursday, a full bench of the Lahore High Court will hear a petition opposing the CM’s oath of office (today).

Dismissal of Punjab Governor

As soon as the clock struck 12 at midnight on May 9, the federal government of the PML-N had notified the dismissal of Punjab governor Cheema, invoking Article 101 and the Proviso to Article 48(1) of the Constitution. The government informed the governor that, as a result of the prime minister’s advice(s) given to the president on April 17 and May 1, the governor’s authority to hold office automatically ceased to exist on May 10.

As a consequence of this, the administrations of both the federal and the state of Punjab sent orders to the various law enforcement agencies to seize control of Governor House and prevent Mr. Cheema from entering the grounds. In the announcement that prevented Cheema from continuing to maintain his post, it was also announced that the speaker of the Punjab Assembly would take on the responsibilities of acting governor until a permanent replacement could be found, according to recent news.

However, the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly, Parvez Elahi, declined to accept the acting charge because he did not want to leave the Punjab Assembly open to the PML-N. Deputy Speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari is obviously biassed in favour of the ruling party, and he had even facilitated the chief minister’s election, ensuring that the PML-Hamza N’s Shehbaz would win it with the assistance of the PPP and the PTI’s 26 dissident MPA

Baleeghur Rehman – New Candidate for Governor Position

The PML-N is now waiting for the appointment of their candidate, Baleeghur Rehman, as the new Governor of Punjab. The PML-N submitted Rehman’s name to the president on May 7, and the president has since approved his appointment – latest news update reported.

According to those who specialise in the law, the Constitution grants the president the authority to ignore the prime minister’s recommendation for the appointment of a governor for a period of 15 days, followed by an additional 10 days following the re-endorsement of the summary, according to recent news.

On the other hand, they assert that an unusual circumstance has arisen as a result of PA Speaker Elahi’s unwillingness to take over the governorship in an acting capacity. Since the president has also declared his intention by rejecting the advise of the premier about the dismissal of Mr. Cheema, the experts believe that the federal government is free to pick the new governor whenever they see fit so long as they notify the Cabinet Division of their decision.

Motions of no Confidence

In the meanwhile, motions of no confidence against the speaker and deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly were presented on April 7 and April 6, respectively. These motions are still waiting in the assembly. After the resolutions were submitted, there was a seven-day window in which they needed to be discussed, with the latest possible dates falling on April 14 and 13, respectively.

Due to the tumultuous nature of the political climate, an emergency session of the parliament was convened on April 28 in order to discuss the move against Deputy Speaker Mazari. The proceedings, however, had to be postponed until May 16 before the session even began since the assembly’s coordination secretary was detained and the district administration launched raids to apprehend the secretary. The speaker was forced to postpone the sessions because of this.

Administrative impasse

Since the resignation of the former chief minister Buzdar was accepted on April 1, administrative duties in Punjab have come to a complete and total standstill, even as the political crisis in the region continues to worsen.

After Mr. Buzdar attempted to relocate files and summaries, the civil bureaucracy quickly began realigning itself with the PML-N, which had established its government in the Centre, and opposed all of Mr. Buzdar’s moves, according to recent news 2022.

Since that time, the bureaucracy has been completely paralysed, and there has been widespread misunderstanding surrounding the funding and implementation of decisions regarding the provision of protection to Eid congregations in the wake of a suicide explosion in Karachi. There was no such thing as a cabinet committee dealing with law and order.

Even though Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz has taken control of Punjab, reshuffled the civil and police authorities, and undertaken whirlwind tours throughout the state, this administrative turmoil is still ongoing – latest news update reported.

However, the coalition government in the province that is led by the PML-N is unable to create a cabinet and is unable to properly handle the administrative operations. This is largely due to the fact that there was no one to give the oath of office to new cabinet members. ‘The provincial cabinet is an apex body in a province that acts as a full-fledged government and takes administrative and financial decisions,’ a senior bureaucrat told Dawn. ‘The provincial cabinet is responsible for making policy regarding both the administrative and financial aspects of the province.’

The officials are hesitant to make any choices because they are concerned about how those decisions will be interpreted until the provincial government has been sworn in. “The administrative secretaries and other top officers in the civil bureaucracy most of the time require political wisdom, input, and direction,” a senior officer said, adding that the province’s administrative set-up currently lacks standing committees on all sectors, including finance and development, law and order, and legislative business. “The administrative secretaries and other top officers in the civil bureaucracy most of the time require political wisdom, input, and direction,” a senior officer said.

A senior officer made the observation that the civil bureaucracy does not feel empowered to even allow additional funding beyond the allocated budget for development or non-development activity, even if there is fiscal space available. “The civil bureaucracy is not feeling empowered to even allow additional funding beyond the allocated budget,”

In light of the fact that the current fiscal year is now in the midst of its last quarter and that the provincial government should have been working full-throttle to draught a budget for the following fiscal year, the number of administrative issues that need to be addressed is growing. An officer who was concerned about the situation stated, “The civil bureaucracy will be at a loss if there is not finance minister any time soon.”

The previous administration had failed to build up the bureaucracy’s trust and instead created fear in it through NAB probes. During the rule of the PTI in the province, the public officials were unwilling to take any daring administrative and budgetary choices fearing accountability.

Conclusion

The administration of the PML-N at the Center has dropped hints that it will form a committee consisting of top officials and ask for recommendations to enhance the confidence of the officers so that they may make whatever sort of choice they want without any fear.