Islamabad: Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar took oath as the eighth caretaker PM of Pakistan on Monday as the country celebrated 76 years of its independence. President Arif Alvi administered the oath to Kakar, with former PM Shehbaz Sharif, ex-cabinet members and the chiefs of the armed forces in attendance.
Earlier in the day, Kakar resigned as a senator and also from his position in the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), which he had co-founded in 2018 with the backing of the military establishment. As interim PM, his first task would be to choose a cabinet to run the routine affairs of the cash-strapped country. The role of the interim PM has assumed extraordinary importance since the former PM approved the results of a digital census on August 5, making a delay in general elections nearly inevitable. Last month, the parliament had amended its election laws to empower the caretaker government to take important economic decisions, raising widespread concern that the move was in anticipation of a caretaker set-up that would last longer than its constitutionally mandated three months.
The circumstances surrounding Kakar’s appointment have not been devoid of controversy. The decision has strained ties between the PML-N and its ally Balochistan National Party Mengal. BNP-M head Sardar Akhtar Mengal expressed reservations regarding the PML-N’s selection of Kakar as the caretaker PM and the perceived reliance on establishment support to address the nation’s challenges.
Parliament dissolved
Earlier, Pakistan’s parliament has been dissolved to prepare for a national election without former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been jailed and barred from politics for five years.
President Arif Alvi ordered the dissolution of the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s advice. Sharif, who assumed power in April 2022 after Khan lost a no-confidence vote in parliament, said he had asked President Alvi to dissolve the assembly three days before the schedule.