By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday appointed a senator from the southwestern province of Balochistan as the caretaker prime minister to oversee the upcoming general elections, the presidency said.
Anwaarul Haq Kakar, a member of Balochistan Awami Party – widely considered to be close to the country’s powerful military – will head a temporary government until a new administration is formed after the polls, which are expected to be held in November.
Kakar’s name was agreed upon by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and opposition leader Raja Riaz after consultations, according to a statement from the presidency.
Kakar will take charge as the interim leader on Sunday, after Prime Minister Sharif steps down following the completion of the current assembly’s five-year term.
Sharif dissolved the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, on Wednesday, three days before his tenure expired, to give the caretaker government more time to organize the polls.
“President Arif Alvi approved the appointment under the constitution and Kakar will take oath on Sunday,” the presidency added.
Riaz told reporters that he had proposed Kakar’s name to Sharif.
“We had earlier decided that the caretaker PM should be someone from a smaller province and a non-controversial personality. Our aim was to remove the sense of deprivation in small provinces,” Riaz said.
Kakar, who was elected to the Senate in 2018, has served as the chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, and as a member of several other committees.
He also led the Balochistan Awami Party, which was formed in 2018, as its parliamentary leader in the Senate until five months ago, when he was replaced by another senator.
Kakar will head a caretaker government that will oversee the conduct of the election, which is expected to be a close contest between Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led by former prime minister Imran Khan.
Pakistan has a history of political instability and military coups, and the appointment of a caretaker prime minister is a constitutional requirement to ensure a smooth transition of power. The election date is uncertain as the government’s approval of the results of a digital census on August 5 has triggered a constitutional requirement for the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to redraw the constituency boundaries based on the latest population count.
The process could take up to six months and delay the polling day by months. The election commission has not yet announced an exact date of the polls.
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