- SHC chief justice administers oath to Nehal Hashmi.
- Sindh CM, Karachi mayor attend oath-taking ceremony.
- Oath-taking ceremony takes place at Governor House.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Nehal Hashmi on Friday took oath as the Sindh governor, replacing MQM-P’s Kamran Khan Tessori.
Sindh High Court Chief Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput administered the oath to Hashmi in a ceremony at the Governor House in Karachi.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab attended the oath-taking ceremony, alongside Sindh Home Minister Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar, and other provincial ministers.
PML-N Sindh president Bashir Memon was also present alongside other party leaders and workers.
Hashmi took oath as the Sindh governor a day after President Asif Ali Zardari approved his appointment to the post, acting on the advice of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
PM Shehbaz had forwarded a summary to the president for appointing the PML-N senior leader as the Sindh governor.
According to the PM’s Office, the prime minister sent the summary for Hashmi’s approval as the Sindh governor to the president.
The statement added that PM Shehbaz met Hashmi in Islamabad and congratulated him on his proposed appointment as the governor.
Sources said a day earlier that Tessori left for Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah, and plans to stay in the country for a few days.
Before his departure, the outgoing governor thanked protocol staff and officials who came to the airport to see him off.
A spokesperson for MQM-P stated that the party was not taken into confidence by the federal government regarding the decision.
The spokesperson added that MQM-P will soon determine its future course of action after internal consultations over the matter.
Hashmi, who hails Karachi’s Malir, has been associated with the ruling PML-N for several years. He served as adviser to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on law and justice from 1997 to 1999.
In 2012, he served as the president of PML-N’s Karachi chapter. Two years later, in August 2014, Hashmi, a lawyer by profession, was appointed general secretary of the party’s Sindh chapter.
In 2015, Hashmi — considered an active party worker — was elected as a Senate candidate of PML-N from a seat allocated to Punjab. His party membership was suspended in 2017 and later restored in 2021.
