President returns PM Shehbaz's summary for removing Punjab governor

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has returned Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s summary for removing the Punjab Governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema after raising an objection, ARY News reported on Saturday.

PM Shehbaz Sharif had advised President Dr Arif Alvi to remove Punjab Governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema in a summary sent to the President’s House on April 15.

Governor Cheema had taken the oath of his office on April 3 by the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government after Chaudhry Sarwar was removed from the post over the accusations of persuading Aleem Khan group to vote in favour of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Hamza Shahbaz.

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As the Punjab governor, Cheema had termed the resignation of Usman Buzdar ‘unconstitutional’ as the former governor accepted the resignation despite it being not handwritten as per the Constitution which should be addressed to the governor.

Governor Cheema had also raised objections over the election of Hamza Shahbaz as the Punjab chief minister and termed it ‘unconstitutional’ as well.

The governor had also refused to administer the oath to Punjab CM-elect Hamza Shahbaz and in a letter to the president regarding the constitutional crisis, he sought the interpretation of the constitutional points after holding consultations with the legal experts regarding the two contradictory orders of the high court given on April 22 and 27.