Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has decided to appoint PML-N’s Nehal Hashmi as the Governor of Sindh, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said on Tuesday.

 

The PMO stated that Shehbaz met Hashmi at PM House and forwarded a summary to President Asif Ali Zardari for approval.

 

Reports about the removal of incumbent Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) have been circulating on social media for several days.

 

Relations between the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and MQM-P, both federal government allies, have been strained in recent months, particularly since the Gul Plaza incident. The PPP had raised concerns about Tessori’s role as governor in 2024.

 

In April 2024, the PPP accused Tessori of “creating a political divide and further widening the gap between urban and rural areas of Sindh” and requested his removal by the PML-N-led federal government.

 

Reports of a possible replacement emerged in August 2024, prompting MQM-P to threaten leaving the coalition. In December 2025, MQM-P leadership dismissed speculation about Tessori’s removal.

 

After the 2024 general elections, PPP and PML-N agreed on a coalition government at the Centre, with PPP securing the posts of president, Senate chairman, and National Assembly deputy speaker, while PML-N retained the right to appoint governors in Sindh and Balochistan.

 

Hashmi previously served as a PML-N senator following his election in March 2015. He was disqualified in February 2018 after a controversial speech in May 2017, in which he warned:

 

“Those who are scrutinising them [Sharif and his sons], we will not spare you. Those grilling [the family] … [be warned that] we will arrange the day of judgment for you. You are making the life of the prime minister difficult; the Pakistani nation will make it difficult for you to live.”

 

The speech prompted the PML-N to ask him to resign from the Senate and revoke his party membership. The then-Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar took suo motu notice. Eight months later, the Supreme Court convicted Hashmi of contempt of court, sentencing him to one month in jail and disqualifying him from holding public office for five years.