ISLAMABAD:President Arif Alvi on Monday directed Punjab Governor Omer Sarfraz Cheema to continue to hold the office of the Governor till the final decision being made on the summary moved for his removal from the office.

Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif using his discretionary powers removed Punjab Governor Umar Sarfraz Cheema from his post. On the other hand, Punjab Governor Cheema addressing the press conference maintained that constitutionally, the Prime Minister had no discretionary powers to remove him from governorship but only the President of Pakistan can notify in this regard.

Umar Sarfraz said as per the constitution, to remove him from the governorship, the Prime Minister will send the summary and then the President will notify. PMLN candidate Hamza Shehbaz Sharif became Chief Minister of Punjab by scoring 197 votes amid the highly-charged session where both sides blamed each other for disrupting the session’s proceedings.