—— President administers oath to Kakar
—— COAS, Shehbaz attend oath-taking ceremony
——- Senate Chairman accepts Kakar’s resignation from Upper House
—— Kakar is Pakistan’s eighth Caretaker Prime Minister
—— Interim PM receives guard of honour at PM House
—— Assumes office, seeks briefing from Ministries
By Asghar Ali Mubarak
Islamabad: Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar — a former senator and a leader of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) — on Monday took oath as the eighth caretaker prime minister of Pakistan to see the country through to an election due in months.
President Arif Alvi administered the oath to Kakar at the Aiwan-e-Sadar, with the former prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and ex-cabinet members in attendance.
Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, and other high-ranking officials were also present on the oc-casion.
“I have confidence in the caretaker prime minister’s ability to conduct free and fair elections,” ex-premier Shehbaz said in a farewell address to the nation late Sunday.
Politicians from both sides — the former government and opposition — had welcomed the appointment and hoped that the interim PM would ensure free and fair polls in the country.
Kakar’s first task — as he takes charge of a country that has been wracked by political and economic instability for months — is to choose a cabinet to run the country as it heads into an election period that could last for months. Parliament was officially dissolved last week, with elections due within 90 days according to the constitution. But data from the latest census was finally published earlier this month, and the outgoing government said the election commission needed time to redraw constituency boundaries.
There has been speculation for months that a vote would be delayed as the authorities struggle to stabilise a country facing overlapping security, economic, and political crises. The country has been in political turmoil since Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was dismissed as premier by a no-confidence vote in April 2022, culminating in him being jailed last weekend for three years for graft.
He has been disqualified from standing for office for five years, but is appealing against his sentence and conviction.
Senate chairman accepts Kakar’s resignation
Earlier in the day, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjarani accepted Kakar’s resignation from the upper house of the Parliament.
A day earlier, the caretaker premier had announced his resignation from the Senate as well as the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), which he founded in 2018.
According to media, Kakar stepped down from his post because he wanted to be an impartial interim premier. The media outlet quoted him as saying that since it was his responsibility to hold free and fair elections, for which he has to cooperate with the Election Commission of Pakistan, he had decided to resign.
A notification issued by the Senate Secretariat on Monday notified Kakar’s resignation.
“Anwaarul Haq Kakar, member Senate of Pakistan, has resigned his seat, as his principled stance of neutrality on becoming the caretaker prime minister, by writing under his hand in person before the Senate chairman,” the notification, said.
“The honourable Senate chairman has been pleased to accept the res-ignation and consequently his seat has become vacant in terms of clause (1) of Article 64 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan with effect from August 14,” it added.
Who is the new interim premier?
Kakar was born in 1971 in Muslim Bagh, an area of the Killa Saifullah district of Balochistan, and received his primary education from St. Francis School in Quetta.
The eighth caretaker prime minister belongs to the Kakar tribe of Pashtun ethnicity. The former senator later enrolled in Cadet College, Kohat.
However, after his father’s demise, he returned to Quetta. Since then, he did a Master’s in Political Science and Sociology from the Universi-ty of Balochistan.
Kakar’s career began with teaching at a school in his native town.
He joined politics on PML-Q’s ticket for a National Assembly seat in 2008 but later joined the PML-N.
He then served as spokesman of then-Balochistan chief minister Sa-naullah Zehri for almost 3 years — from 2013-15.
He was later elected to Senate as an independent candidate in 2018. Soon after, he announced the formation of BAP with the help of Sena-tor Syed Saeed Ahmed Hashmi.
In the Senate, Kakar remained part of standing committees on finance and revenue, foreign affairs, and science and technology and also served as chairman of the Standing Committee for Overseas Pakistan-is and Human Resources in the upper house.
“Though he has been involved in politics, Kakar is widely regarded as a great intellectual in the country,” senior anchorperson Hamid Mir told.
“The senator also enjoys good ties with the mainstream political par-ties including PML-N and PPP.”
Meanwhile, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar was presented guard of honour in a ceremony at the Prime Minister House on Monday.
A smartly turned-out contingent of armed forces presented the guard of hon-our. National anthem was also played on the occasion.
Earlier, Kakar took oath as the eighth caretaker prime minister of Pakistan on Monday.
President Arif Alvi administered oath to the caretaker prime minister during a simple ceremony at the President House in the federal capital.
Former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, who was also present at the ceremo-ny, congratulated the newly-appointed interim premier.
National Assembly speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori, Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman, PTI Senator Shehbaz Waseem, PPP’s Faisal Karim Kundi and oth-ers also attended the ceremony.
