Pakistan National Assembly Speaker administers oath to Hamza Shehbaz as Punjab CM

The oath-ceremony began with the recitation of the Holy Quran and a naat, after which Hamza was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Punjab, Dawn newspaper reported.

Ahead of the ceremony, the security around the Governor House had been stepped up and a large contingent of police deployed there.

Hamza Shahbaz was elected as the new chief minister with 197 votes on April 16 and a day later he was scheduled to take the oath but Punjab Governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema "postponed" the oath-taking ceremony as he ruled his election controversial due to the ruckus that took place in the Assembly.

Hamza approached the Lahore High Court on April 21 regarding his oath ceremony, upon which Lahore High Court Chief Justice Mohammad Ameer Bhatti directed the President to nominate any person in terms of Article 104 of the Constitution to administer the oath, but the President failed to comply with the order, reported Dawn.

After President, Chief Justice on Wednesday advised Punjab Governor Cheema to ensure the administration of the oath of the newly elected Chief Minister either himself or through his nominee but even that order was also not followed, reported Dawn.

In the third petition of the Hamza Shehbaz seeking implementation of the two previous court orders on his petitions, Lahore High Court Justice Hassab directed the National Assembly Speaker, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to administer the oath-ceremony on Saturday at 11:30 am.

In the Lahore High Court order, Justice Hassab observed that President Arif Alvi and Punjab Governor Omar Sarfaraz Cheema had deliberately ignored the court's decision. He further said, "The governor through his conduct has also made himself 'impracticable' for the oath to be made before him."

Meanwhile, earlier today, the Governor of Punjab province, Omar Sarfraz Cheema rejected the resignation of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and sent a letter to province Assembly Speaker leader Pervaiz Elahi Chaudhry to convey his decision.

In the letter, the Governor said that the resignation tendered from Buzdar did not fulfil the requirements under subsection 8 of Article 130 of the Constitution. He further stated that Buzdur in his resignation letter addressed only Prime Minister which was unconstitutional, ARY News reported. (ANI)