LAHORE, Pakistan: The Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar has resigned from his post, a spokesman of the Governor’s House in Lahore confirmed.
The spokesman said that that the governor tendered his resignation last night and sent it to President Mamnoon Hussain.
In addition, he said that that Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar will address a news conference at the Governor’s House at 4:00 pm today to explain his decision.
The federal government has accepted his resignation while the Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Iqbal is now acting as acting governor Punjab.
Sarwar, a former British parliamentarian, had given up his British citizenship to serve Pakistan and had been appointed as the governor Punjab on August 5, 2013.
The sources said that serious differences had emerged between Sarwar and the federal government over certain policies. The governor also described the US-India civil nuclear agreement as a failure of the Pakistan’s foreign policy.
““It’s the diplomatic failure of Pakistan that US President Obama visited India and signed all-important civil nuclear deal with it that included some condition even against American and international laws,” Sarwar said at a ceremony of Tehrik Istehkam-i-Pakistan on Tuesday.
The sources further said that it is likely that Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar will join the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) while the former PTI president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi or the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Makhdoom Ahmad Mehmood can be appointed as new Punjab governor.
Governor Sarwar resigned today & pointed to the sad fact that Pakistan is a country where benefits are only for the elite.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) January 29, 2015
