Caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Raja Riaz on Saturday announced that he and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had agreed to appoint Senator Anwarul Haq Kakar as the caretaker prime minister of Pakistan.
“We had principally agreed to appoint someone from a smaller province to alleviate the concerns of residents of underdeveloped areas,” he told media after a second meeting with P.M. Sharif to finalize the appointment of the interim leader. The Prime Minister’s Office, in a statement, subsequently confirmed that Kakar had been appointed the interim prime minister, adding that a summary to this effect had already been forwarded to President Arif Alvi.
According to the President’s Office, the president approved the summary shortly after receiving it, formally appointing Kakar as the prime minister. As a consequence, he has been granted adequate security protocol, with plans to conduct an oath-taking by evening.
Kakar has served as a member of the Senate’s Business Advisory, Finance and Revenue, Foreign Affairs and Science and Technology committees. Earlier this year, he was elected the chairperson of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development. A co-founder of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), he is considered close to the military establishment. He was elected to the Senate in March 2018 as an independent candidate.
Prior to becoming a senator, Kakar was a spokesman for the Government of Balochistan. He received his education from the National Defense University, Islamabad and the University of Balochistan.
A day earlier, P.M. Shehbaz Sharif had told journalists in Islamabad that he expected to achieve consensus on a name for the interim prime minister with Riaz. President Alvi also wrote to both leaders on Friday, urging them to pick a name for the interim prime minister by midnight, Aug. 12.
Kakar’s appointment is a “surprise,” as he was not one of the names speculated to be a leading candidate for the top slot of the caretaker setup. Among the names circulating in the news were former finance ministers Ishaq Dar and Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, Jalil Abbas Jilani, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former principal secretary Fawad Hassan Fawad, former chief justice Tassaduq Jilani, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Pir Pagaro, and Makhdoom Mehmood Ahmed.