ISLAMABAD (MNN); President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday approved the appointment of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Nehal Hashmi as the new governor of Sindh, replacing Kamran Tessori of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement–Pakistan.
The approval came hours after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recommended Hashmi’s appointment. According to a statement issued through the Presidency’s official account on X, the president endorsed the move under Articles 48 and 101 of Pakistan’s Constitution.
The statement said the Commission of Appointment had been signed and Hashmi would take oath before the chief justice of the Sindh High Court. Until now, the position was held by Kamran Tessori, who belonged to MQM-P.
Earlier, the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that Shehbaz Sharif had decided to nominate Hashmi for the post after meeting him at the Prime Minister House earlier this week. The prime minister later forwarded the summary to President Zardari for final approval.
A video of the meeting showed Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and the prime minister’s political adviser Rana Sanaullah also present during the discussion.
The development sparked strong reaction from MQM-P leaders, who claimed they were not consulted about the removal of Tessori.
MQM-P senior leader Farooq Sattar said the party learned about the decision through media reports and termed the move a clear signal that the federal government no longer needed MQM-P in the ruling coalition.
Speaking to Geo News, Sattar said the party’s chairman Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui was consulting party leaders and that a formal reaction was expected soon.
He criticised the government for not informing MQM-P before taking the decision. “There was no prior information, no consultation and the government did not take us into confidence,” Sattar said, adding that the party must consider whether it had any moral justification to remain part of the government.
Sattar also pointed out that the governorship of Sindh had been part of an agreement between MQM-P and PML-N when the party joined the coalition government.
Responding to speculation that the Pakistan Peoples Party may have pressured the federal government to remove Tessori, Sattar said that if PML-N had given the governorship to MQM-P, it should discuss such matters directly with PPP.
He emphasised that MQM-P had an agreement only with PML-N and not with any third party.
Political observers note that tensions between MQM-P and the Pakistan Peoples Party, which governs Sindh, have intensified over the past year. In April 2024, PPP leaders accused Tessori of creating political divisions between urban and rural areas of the province and called on the federal government to remove him.
Reports about his possible removal surfaced several times over the past two years, with MQM-P even threatening to leave the federal coalition government at one point.
After the 2024 general elections, PML-N and PPP agreed on a power-sharing arrangement to form a coalition government at the Centre. Under the agreement, PPP secured key constitutional positions including the presidency, Senate chairmanship and the deputy speakership of the National Assembly.
In return, PML-N retained the right to appoint governors in Sindh and Balochistan, while PPP’s nominees were appointed as governors in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Nehal Hashmi previously served as a senator after being elected in 2015. However, he was disqualified in 2018 after being convicted by the Supreme Court for contempt of court following a controversial speech directed at those investigating former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family.
