LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister-elect Hamza Shehbaz on Saturday took the oath of his office at a ceremony at the Governor House.
National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf administered the oath to Hamza, just hours after Governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema rejected Usman Buzdar’s resignation, deeming it “not constitutionally valid”.
— PML(N) (@pmln_org) April 30, 2022
While the oath-taking ceremony was underway, Governor Cheema urged the chief justice to take notice of the “ghunda gardi” at the Governor House. He also said the “drama of a fake chief minister’s oath” is being performed in an “unconstitutional” manner.
Later, the Punjab chief secretary notified that Hamza has assumed the charge of the chief minister’s office.
The notification stated: “Consequent upon the judgement of the Lahore High Court under writ petition no. 27186 of 2022, Mr Muhammad Hamza Shahbaz Sharif has taken the oath of the office of the chief ministry of Punjab before speaker, National Assembly on 30th day of April, 2022.”
In a separate notification, the chief secretary notified that Buzdar has ceased to hold the CM office.
“Consequent upon assumption of office of chief minister of Punjab by Mr Muhammad Hamza Shahbaz Sharif on 30th April, 2022, Mr Usman Ahmed Khan Buzdar, chief minister of Punjab under provision of Article 133 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, has ceased to hold office with immediate effect,” the notification read.
However, Cheema termed the notification for Hamza’s assumption of the CM office “fake”.
“As the governor, I am not allowing the notification for the appointment of any unconstitutional and fake chief minister. The way they forcibly and deceitfully put up a drama of the oath-taking, they have now attempted to prepare a fake notification for it,” he tweeted.
Following the ceremony, Hamza told reporters that “today a month-long political crisis in Punjab has come to an end. I will seek guidance from the prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and will take coalition partners into confidence.”
He also rapped the previous government, vowing to move forward for the welfare of the people as opposed to “examples of destruction, corruption and bad governance set by the PTI government.
In response to a question, Hamza said he “cannot compete with Shehbaz speed, but will take assistance from him and will try to match him”.
OATH FIASCO
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president was elected as Punjab’s new chief minister on April 16, after a chaotic session of the Punjab Assembly where legislators of the PTI and PML-Q scuffled with one another.
Hamza polled 197 votes — including from 24 PTI dissidents, two independents and the lone Rah-i-Haq Party lawmaker — while his opponent, Pervaiz Elahi, failed to secure a single vote from the assembly.
PTI and PML-Q lawmakers had boycotted the voting process after the ruckus.
Hamza’s oath-taking, however, faced delays after Governor Cheema refused to administer the oath to him, questioning the validity of his election.
Subsequently, Hamza had approached the Lahore High Court on April 21, which instructed President Alvi to appoint a representative to administer the oath in the absence of the governor.
However, after a delay by the president in following the court’s directive, Hamza had approached the court again on April 25. This time, he had asked the LHC to instruct Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani to administer oath to him. In his ruling, LHC Chief Justice Ameer Bhatti had directed Governor Cheema to complete Hamza’s oath-taking process by April 28.
When the president and governor still failed to follow the court’s instructions, Hamza sought the LHC’s intervention for a third time on Friday.
In his third petition, Hamza requested the court to “kindly direct the administration of oath to the chief minister-elect by a person nominated by this honourable court at the Governor House at a specified time and the coercive arm of the state be set in motion for implementation of the orders of this honourable court”.
The LHC then directed the NA speaker to administer the oath to Hamza.
Meanwhile, Punjab Assembly Speaker and PML-Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi said he would challenge the LHC’s decision on Hamza’s third plea.
