Sardar Salim Haider sworn in as 40th Punjab governor

F.P. Report

LAHORE : PPP leader Sardar Salim Haider Khan on Friday took oath as Punjab governor, replacing Balighur Rehman.

Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed Khan administered oath to him during a ceremony attended by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and others.

Earlier, the oath-taking ceremony was delayed twice at the request of the PML-N as outgoing governor Balighur Rehman was in Saudi Arabia.

Who is Sardar Salim Haider

Sardar Salim (who becomes the 40th governor of Punjab) hails from Fateh Jhang tehsil of Attock district. In the 2002 general elections, he ran for the provincial assembly constituency PP-18 (Attock-IV) as a PPP candidate but did not win. He secured 37,140 votes but lost to Malik Muhammad Anwar of Pakistan Muslim League (Q).

In the 2008 general elections, Salim was elected to the National Assembly from NA-59 (Attock-III) as a PPP candidate. He received 71,400 votes, defeating PML-Q’s Waseem Gulzar.

Salim joined then prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s federal cabinet in November 2008 as Minister of State for Defence Production, a role he held until February 2011. He then served as Minister of State for Defence under Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf from June 2012 to March 2013.

In the 2013 elections, Salim again contested for the National Assembly from NA-59 (Attock-III) as a PPP candidate but was unsuccessful.

During the previous government, Salim also served as a Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis.