If the army leader produces four soldiers, the ‘illegal’ CM Hamza will be arrested.

On Thursday, Punjab Governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema stated that if Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa presented him with one subedar and four jawans, he would arrest and imprison newly sworn-in Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz, whom he described as “illegal, unconstitutional, and counterfeit.”

He claimed the province, which was facing a constitutional and legal crisis, had been “held prisoner by force” in a series of early morning tweets, and that the major parties’ silence was “extremely worrying.”

He stated that if everyone approved Hamza Shehbaz’s “recipe” for becoming Punjab’s chief minister, the other provinces should start worrying about themselves.

In a follow-up tweet, he said that if people who “ripped up the Constitution and the law by force” were protected, anyone could take over a constitutional office in the future.

Throughout his 26-year political career, Cheema has insisted on a “neutral umpire.” He went on to say that if a “neutral umpire” didn’t follow the same rules for both teams, he couldn’t call himself “neutral” and the game wouldn’t be fair.

“In my statement, I specified what kind of intervention I anticipate and what is required. If I hadn’t been governor, I would have made a public appeal.” In the past, political parties have consistently sought the [army’s] 111 Brigade. I’ve requested at least four jawans and one subedar,” he wrote on Twitter.

The crisis in Punjab began when Governor Cheema refused to administer oath to Chief Minister-elect Hamza on April 17, a day after the chief minister was elected in a stormy session of the Punjab Assembly that descended into outright violence, citing the assembly secretary’s report, the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) instructions, and facts presented to him as raising doubts about the election’s validity.

Several PTI MPs were hurt in the poll, including assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, who was one of the two candidates for the chief ministership.

Hamza received 197 votes, including 26 from PTI dissidents, whereas Elahi received none.

Three applications have been filed, but the process has come to a halt.

On April 21, Hamza petitioned the Lahore High Court, which ordered President Dr Arif Alvi to appoint a person to administer the oath in the governor’s absence.

Following the president’s failure to implement the court’s directive, Hamza addressed the court again on April 25. He had requested that the LHC tell Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani to administer the oath to him this time. LHC Chief Justice Ameer Bhatti had ordered Governor Cheema to finish Hamza’s oath-taking process by April 28 in his ruling.

On April 29, Hamza requested the LHC’s intervention for the third time after the president and governor continued to ignore the court’s orders.

The next day, on the court’s orders, National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf delivered the oath to Hamza.

Cheema, on the other hand, had rejected previous chief minister Usman Buzdar’s resignation just hours before Hamza’s inauguration and restored his cabinet, which even convened for a meeting.

Governor requests that the CJP take note.

Governor Cheema had urged the chief justice to take notice of the “ghunda gardi” (thuggery) at the Governor House while the oath-taking ceremony was going place. He further said that the “drama of a phoney chief minister’s oath” was taking place in an “unconstitutional” way.

The governor had also referred to Hamza’s appointment as CM as “false.”

“As governor, I am not permitting any unconstitutional or illegal appointments to be announced.” Cheema had described Buzdar’s departure as a true “fitna” (mischief) behind Punjab’s constitutional problem in a press conference a day later.

He had described the subsequent oath-taking ceremony as “illegal and unconstitutional” after “holding Governor House hostage.” He claimed that the prime minister’s son Hamza utilized the Punjab police and bureaucracy as his “ghunda force,” denotifying CM Buzdar and notifying Hamza as chief minister without providing his advice.

According to a story published earlier this month by Dawn, the creation of the new provincial cabinet has been postponed until Cheema’s dismissal.

The PML-N had previously indicated that it would hand over the governorship of Punjab to its ally, the PPP, which had nominated Makhdoom Ahmad Mahmood, the party’s south Punjab president, for the position.