ISLAMABAD: The battle for the control of Punjab took a serious turn with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointing a new Governor and President Ghulam Ishaq Khan refuting reports that he had approved a proclamation passed by Parliament bringing Punjab under Central rule.
Sharif, who presided over a Cabinet meeting July 1, had notified the appointment of the former Punjab Governor, Mohammad Azhar, as the new Governor of the province after a joint session of Parliament passed a resolution imposing direct federal rule in the country’s largest and most powerful province,
Reports from Lahore said about heavy police deployment in the city and the Governor, Altaf Hussain, replaced by Azhar, was still in office. The Chief Minister, Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, descending the joint session resolution as “unconstitutional and unethical,” has refused to quit. Wattoo said that all the four provinces of Punjab, NWFP, Sindh and Balochistan had decided to resist the resolution, A spokesman of the President’s house, commenting on a proclamation, issued by the Cabinet Secretary said: “The President has not, till this afternoon, received, approved or signed any proclamation in pursuance of Article 234 of the Constitution.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 9, 1993
