Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui sworn in as 31st governor of Sindh

Justice (retd) Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui was sworn in as the 31st governor of Sindh in a simple ceremony held at the Governor House on Friday.

Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah administered the oath of office to the new governor, who has replaced Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan. 

Chief Secretary Muhammad Siddique Memon conducted the ceremony, which was attended by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani, former governor Moinuddin Haider, Ombudsman Asad Ashraf Malik, NAB’s Sindh Director General Col (retd) Sirajul Naeem, provincial ministers, secretaries and representatives of the three armed forces.

Later, Justice Siddiqui met the chief minister, who greeted him on assuming the position of governor.

The governor thanked the chief minister and said consultation and cooperation between the secretariat of the Governor House and the CM House would continue to resolve issues of the people of the province. 

Greetings kept on pouring in at the Governor House to congratulate the new governor on assuming the constitutional position. 

Those who greeted the new governor included President Mamnoon Hussain, Punjab Governor Rafique Rajwana, Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal and prime minister’s special assistant Irfan Siddiqui.  

No visit to Mazar

The spokesman for the Governor House negated reports doing the rounds in mainstream and social media that the new governor’s ill-health compelled him to postpone his official engagements soon after taking the oath of office.

He said Justice Siddiqui had postponed his visit to the mausoleum of the Quaid-e-Azam to pay homage to the founder of the nation on a request of the mausoleum administration, which was carrying out renovation and maintenance work.

Some private TV news channels claimed that the new governor could not visit the mausoleum due to his advance age.

They said that his deteriorating health condition did not allow him to climb a large number of steps leading to the grave of the founder of the nation. 

The TV channels and social media reported that the governor could not undertake the visit as the mausoleum’s elevator was not working owing to renovation work being carried out there. 

The spokesman said the governor, after taking the oath, left the Governor House and went to his private residence in Defence in order to meet his friends and relatives. 

The governor was going to spend the night at his private residence, and sometime on Saturday he would move to the Governor House, said the spokesman.