Governor but permanent

Many of those who are power hungry will not like to read what I am going to pen but yet being a completely neutral person I cannot help writing and punctuating the same with nothing but facts and facts alone. Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan is Governor of Sindh for over a decade and despite the fact that twice he not only tendered resignation but also flew out of Pakistan as if he is gone forever and not returning again but yet one way or the other each time he has been asked to resume as Governor and now it is his 13^th continuous year without any gap in between to be the chief executive of Sindh and who knows may be continues for subsequent decade as well.

Dr Ebad, mostly known by this name is a very good combination of many adversities but yet he certainly must have some exclusive inborn talents and guts to rule the province of Sindh which is the real backbone of the country if I am not mistaken. He is not that old either since he is born in 1963 when I was BA student but yet he has rightly shown mirror to those who are much senior to him both in age and experience aspiring since long to be governor. Who does not want to be governor? I have my serious doubts that anyone if offered such lucrative position will shun the offer. He is the youngest ever governor and in sequence he is the 30^th Governor of the province since independence of Pakistan and during the years his 29 predecessors had been drawn both from civil and military alike. In the list of his predecessors we find some truly seasoned and experienced politicians who were governors while some Supreme Court judges including the incumbent Chief Election Commissioner Justice Fakhruddin too had been Governor Sindh. Pakistan army generals too had ruled as governor while some bureaucrats were also not ignored either. Sheilkh G. H. Hidayatullah was the 1^st governor for the period 15^th August 1947 to 4^th October, 1948. George Bxandall Constantine belonged to the government service and had the shortest possible tenure from 2^nd May to 12^th August, 1953 which is record in itself. Mahmood Haroon is the only luckiest one who had been appointed twice as Governor during Aug 1990-July 1993 and then Jan 94-May 95 otherwise rest of them had just served for one time only.

Dr Ebad is an Urdu speaking who are generally believed to be timid and shy but he through his personal qualities has changed the very definition and the perception. He joined Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) while studying and headed students union called APMSO which proved that he had enough germs of leadership which he could breed and polish in due course of time. He graduated as a doctor obtaining MBBS from Dow Medical College, Karachi but did not practice that long as a doctor. In early 1990s he was inducted as Minister for Housing and Town Planning in Sindh and somehow he proved so successful that later on instead of appointing someone else as minister Dr later was given additional charge of Minister for Environment and Public Health Engineering as well which as a matter of fact has proved to be launching pad for his future high ranking posting. In 1993 he left Pakistan for certain very compelling circumstances and landed in UK where he applied to seek political asylum which was granted and he became a British citizen and lived there till he was approached by the President Gen Pervez Musharraf to come back to Pakistan and take over as Governor Sindh.

It was December 2002 when Dr Isharat-ul-Ebad Khan holding UK and Pakistan nationalities flew in all the way from UK to Pakistan on the invitation of the government and took oath as Governor of Sindh and since then he is holding the fort of the province despite the fact that entire government set up has been changed since his appointment. I do remember quite vividly that in some quarters at that point of time it was aired that President Gen Musharraf being himself an Urdu speaking appointed Dr Ebad not on merit but just on ethnicity affinity between the two since Urdu is the common mother language for both of them. Academically speaking even if we accept it for just discussion purpose then the obvious question is was Dr the only Urdu speaking and that too a dual national befitting to be the Governor? Of course there were many other Urdu speaking doctors both MBBS & Ph D within the country and overseas who could be the governor but yet Ebad was chosen for the job and he continued for all long eight years till Musharraf was President of Pakistan and it was aired again that once Musharraf quits Dr will have to leave governorship. It must be mentioned that a few of those who were very close to Musharraf did try to oust Dr but the president never ever heard anyone so far as Dr Ebad was concerned and therefore he remained as governor even though Musharraf had to pack up from presidency on 18^th August 2008 and eventually flew out of Pakistan on self exile.

The incumbent President Asif Ali Zardari took over from Mian Mohmmad Soomro who being Chairman Senate was acting President from 18^th August till 9^th September 2008 and since then Dr Ebad has served under Zardari for all these years and even though Dr had submitted resignation on 27th June and left Pakistan to UK but the official quarters told him very plainly and frankly that President Zardari is not accepting your resignation. Dr was not in a mood to return but then he was asked by Altaf Hussain of MQM pressurized him to go back to Karachi and therefore he flew back and resumed as Sindh Governor on 19^th July after continual absence of 22 days. Incidentally just a few days ago Dr has again tendered resignation and he was staying in Dubai and though he has not shown any interest to come back but again President has refused to let him go off where Altaf has again prevailed over Dr to go back to Karachi and sit back in his office where he is sitting since December 2000 which means that second time he had to take back his resignation. People from different walk of life have demanded that the resignation of their beloved governor must not be approved and instead he be called back to resume forthwith. The latest news is that Dr has again withdrawn his resignation and resumed his duties as Governor of Sindh. Tv has shown that Chief Minister accompanied by his two cabinet ministers has called on Dr Ebad on his return to Karachi.

Needless to mention Sindh is not the only province of the country but there are other provinces as well and each one has a governor like Sindh but very much surprisingly no one could hold the fort so long period and this is very true be it during Musharraf or Zardari time which as such gives us ample food for thought as to why other governors have been removed but not Dr Ebad for that matter. It is not fiction but fact that in other provinces governors are removed as and when the president wanted though they were not appointed to be removed alike but still Sindh governor  has never ever been given any hint to quite rather on the contra when governor tenders resignation at his own his resignation turned down and not approved. Counting from 2002 when Dr Ebad took over it is very interesting to find out that the rest three provinces of Baluchistan, Pakhtun Khawa and Punjab has 5^th governor at this point of time since then. Had the other governors not been insulted to be removed much earlier than Dr? What is special in him whom others lacked is a very genuine question to be honest? Law and order situation is worst in Karachi though rest of Sindh is not safe also and it is a hard undeniable fact that thousands of innocent lives have been lost since Dr Ebad has taken over as Governor and it can be said with some certainty that killing will not be stopped though it is it is also doubtful that killing be less in days to come.

Under the given circumstance I will suggest that in the greater interest of the Sindh in particular and Pakistan in general Dr Ishart-ul Ebad Khan may be made Life Governor so that he can utilize his all faculties and capacities to be more efficient and diligent than what he has proved so far. Mabrook alf mabrook Dr Ebad you and you alone excluding rest are the true survivor for the province of Sindh otherwise Sind will be marooned and gone to dogs.

Iqbal Hadi Zaidi / Kuwait