Regular governor eludes Punjab

LAHORE - An inordinate delay happening in the appointment of a regular Punjab governor exhibits personal liking about filling this post instead of going by the statutory book.
At present, Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan is acting as governor while there has been an acting Punjab Assembly speaker since January 19 last when a permanent governor quit the office.
In analysts’ view, lack of regular posting on the two important and prestigious offices of the province does not leave a good taste in the mouth of the people.
The people feel further nuisance when they learn about this status quo as intentionally created to buy time to find a man totally partisan and obedient to the government.
According to the Constitution, a governor is a representative of the President in the province as a part of the state which holds the entity separate from the government in terms of the Constitution.
The government may go, but the state has to stay and its representatives have to take care of the day-to-day affairs of the state.
The office of the governor is not merely ceremonial as the law says he has to act as a watchdog to monitor the government performance, judge it through his own sources, form an opinion and transmit the same to the President who, in turn, will use it in the constitutionally mandated annual address to a joint session of the Parliament to evaluate the government performance and provide to it a guideline.
The President acts on the advice of the respective executive head to notify transactions of the government, which means establishing authority of the state and not compromising on their responsibilities towards the state.
Jurists as such strongly recommend appointment of totally apolitical, impartial, unbiased and neutral person as governor.
As such the government has to take a decision in line with the constitutional requirements of the state, no matter it is against own its wishes.
It is very unfortunate that elected governments talk high of democracy and constitutional norms, but they hardly adhere to the spirit of the principal law book while appointing governors and largely go by their choice and personal interests to plug any chance of poor reporting about their efficiency.
In contrast to the democratic setup, governors in the military regime have been much active and calling the shots for the benefit of the people.
From Malik Ameer Muhammad Khan to Khalid Maqbool, examples are there, though they were appointed by the military regime.
As to the appointment of a permanent Punjab governor, the PML-N government appears to be very careful after having a bitter experience at the hands of Ch Muhammad Sarwar who was specially brought from the UK to accept the governorship, but just after 18 months, he found himself misfit and quit the job, levelling allegations against the government and its machinery.
Various names took round in the media which included politicians, legislators and former and sitting bureaucrats who all were closely related to top rulers and their confidants.
In the course of sifting a suitable person, many have been rejected to their strong heart burning and the late reports suggest that Rana Muhammad Iqbal is being focussed to retain him on permanent basis.
Rana Sahib is the son of Rana Phool Muhammad, a former parliamentarian and old Muslim Leaguer, besides being a trusted lieutenant of the Sharifs since inception of the party.
Rana Sahib is a gentle soul who has a strong political background, so no other person better than him could be found out for governorship from the standpoint of political necessities of the government rather than the constitutional call, say the analysts.
And when the same proposition was put before certain politicians on the ruling side, they went with the government decision, counting characteristics of the man instead of needs of the state and the constitutionality.