Islamabad: Pakistan president Arif Alvi swore in a caretaker cabinet of 16 federal ministers, three advisers to the interim prime minister Anwaar-ul Haq Kakar equivalent to minister and junior minister, and jailed Kashmir separatist Yasin Malik’s wife, Mushaal Hussein Mullick, as one of four special advisers to the PM with rank equivalent to a junior minister.
Mullick is to advise the caretaker PM on human rights and women’s empowerment. Yasin Malik was convicted by an NIA court in a terror funding case and is serving a life sentence in Tihar Jail. He last appeared in the Delhi high court via a video link on August 9 in connection with the NIA seeking death penalty for him.
The poll panel, meanwhile, said it would release the final publication of delimitation of hundreds of federal and provincial constituencies on December 14 this year. Under Pakistan’s constitution, a neutral caretaker government has to be appointed after dissolution of the National Assembly to hold general elections within 90 days, which in this case meant early November. Political analysts say the delay in conducting elections on time would allow the military, which already enjoys an enormous role in politics, to consolidate its grip on matters related to civilians. The current interim setup has assumed greater importance after the decision not to hold elections this year. Kakar’s government will also have extra powers to make policy decisions on economic matters after changes to election laws by the outgoing government of Shehbaz Sharif. Kakar, a little-known politician believed to be close to the military, had been sworn in as caretaker PM a few days ago.