Sethi apppointed as Punjab caretaker CM

Islamabad:Senior journalist Najam Sethi on Wednesday took over as caretaker chief minister of Pakistan’s province of Punjab, political heartland of the country and home to 60 per cent of its 180 million population.

Punjab’s Governor Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood administered oath to Sethi at a ceremony at the Governor House in the provincial capital Lahore, a day after a panel of opposition and treasury members in the outgoing provincial assembly selected him for the post.

Speaking to reporters he said the interim setup would focus on its basic task to facilitate conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections on May 11 by the Election Commission.

“There is no political agenda of the interim administration and its job is to ensure support for free and fair elections,” he said, adding that maintaining law and order would be a top priority as it was deeply linked with holding of orderly and peaceful polls.

He urged the provincial bureaucracy and media to extend fullest cooperation in ensuring fair and transparent elections.

The chief minister said he would not tolerate any favouritism or corruption and vowed that the interim government would bravely tackle the challenge of terrorism and would not tolerate sectarianism.

Najam Sethi is an award winning Pakistani journalist‚ editor‚ and media personality. He had a popular current-affairs programme on a local private television channel and owns a publishing house.

He won the 1999 International Press Freedom Award of the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists and the 2009 World Association of Newspapers’ Golden Pen of Freedom Award.

He has experience of serving as a federal minister in a caretaker government following the dismissal of the Benazir Bhuto government in 1996.