Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar takes oath as caretaker prime minister

Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar — a former senator and a leader of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) — Monday took oath as the eighth caretaker prime minister of Pakistan to see the country through to an election due in months.

President Dr 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 occasion.

“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.

Read more: Senator Anwarul Haq Kakar to be caretaker premier

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 in a graft case.

He has been disqualified from standing for office for five years, but is appealing against his sentence and conviction.