Tessori appears unfazed by reports of change at Sindh Governor House

KARACHI: Kamran Tessori has said that he will continue to fulfill his responsibilities as the Sindh governor as long he is in this role amid reports that the federal government is mulling replacing the top provincial official. 

The statement came in response to the reports of a consensus among the coalition partners in the federal government, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), on changing the Sindh governor.  

"The positions keep coming and going but I will continue to serve the people till I am on the governor's post," he said on Saturday while responding to the questions regarding his potential replacement.

Tessori said that he enjoyed the confidence of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, President Asif Ali Zardari and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan's (MQM-P) chief Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.

"I will continue to fulfill my responsibilities as Sindh governor," he added.

Tessori, who belongs to MQM-P, claimed that the reports of changing the governor surfaced after his meeting with the prime minister last night (Friday).

"I would tell those behind these reports that I am not the one who gets panic [by such reports]," the governor added.

Sattar, who flanked Tessori during the media talk, said that rumours regarding the replacement of the Sindh governor keep circulating.

"No one talked to us nor any consultation took place," he added.

Last night, the sources had said that a change in the governor's office is likely to take place in the coming days. They said that the PML-N leadership contacted the PPP's top leaders on Friday and discussed the matter.

The insiders said it was likely that Tessori could be replaced with PML-N leader and former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) chief Bashir Memon.

Memon was appointed the PML-N Sindh's president on November 7, 2023, while Tessori took the oath of his office on October 10, 2022.

However, an MQM-P spokesperson refuted all such reports.

In April, the sources claimed that former Sindh caretaker chief minister Justice (retired) Maqbool Baqar could be appointed as the new governor of the province.

Responding to one such report, MQM-P leader Khajawa Izharul Hassan had also dismissed the potential removal of Tessori, citing a social contract.

Hassan had said that according to the social contract, the governor should be the representative of urban Sindh if the elected chief minister repeatedly belonged to the rural areas of the province, adding that the appointment of the incumbent governor [Tessori] was fully in harmony with the prevailing social contract in the province.

Moreover, a PPP leader Waqar Mehdi on April 12 this year declared Tessori as the "biggest failure as governor" in the history of the province, saying he had failed to discharge his due role as he, being the representative of the federation in the province, was supposed to develop consensus on political issues.

PPP Sindh General Secretary Waqar Mehdi had called upon the PML-N ruling in the Centre to immediately finalise its nominee as the new governor of Sindh. “Kamran Tessori better go on leave until the PML-N chooses the new governor for Sindh.”.