After Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Raja Riaz reached an agreement on his name, President Dr. Arif Alvi on Saturday approved Senator Anwaarul Haq Kakar of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) to serve as the country’s interim premier.
Kakar’s selection was discussed and agreed upon earlier in the day during a meeting at the PM House between the premier and the opposition leader. They then put their names on the document and forwarded it to the president for final approval.
Article 224-1A of the Constitution required President Alvi to quickly adopt the summary, and he did so.
Although Senator Kakar’s nomination has been approved, presidential officials have claimed that he would not be sworn in until Independence Day, August 14.
The National Assembly was dissolved on August 9, three days before its five-year term was over, prompting Kakar’s appointment.
“The final consultation process between the prime minister and the leader of the opposition on the appointment of the caretaker [premier] has been successfully completed,” stated the statement from the PM Office.
It went on to say that “[Anwaarul Haq Kakar]’s name has been agreed upon” as the caretaker prime minister.
Kakar, a leader of the BAP who was elected as a senator in 2018 from Balochistan, was not even mentioned once in the media’s crazy guessing game spanning the last several weeks, therefore his selection by PM Shehbaz and the opposition leaders came as a surprise to many.
On Friday night, reliable sources revealed widespread speculation and name-dropping by the media had been completely off the mark.
Sources close to the situation said the secret name was about to shock a lot of people.
Many prominent figures, such as Ishaq Dar and Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, were removed, proving their predictions right.
Despite widespread approval for Kakar’s appointment, some people believe that the BAP leader was only chosen for the caretaker premier position because of pressure from “powerful stakeholders” in the country.
The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) under the leadership of JUI-F chairman Maulana Fazlur Rehman had pinned the blame for the political impasse on the ‘powerful circles’ who are now thought to be responsible for the creation of BAP.
After the PPP secured the backing of BAP senators to elect its candidate, former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani, as leader of the opposition in the Senate, PML-N Senior Vice President and Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz lashed out at the PPP.
She also said that the PPP had been so keen to win the minor post that it had even accepted ballots from the BAP.
Maryam made a pun by saying, “It’s terrible that you received votes from BAP, which follows the dictates of its BAP [meaning father — in an indirect reference to the ‘powerful circles’].
She argued that the PPP deliberately misled the public by saying that BAP legislators were apolitical independents. “You [PPP] cannot hoodwink the people,” she emphasized.
Despite PML-N’s advantage in the Senate at the time, lesser-known BAP leader Sadiq Sanjrani defeated PML-N candidate Raja Zafarul Haq in March 2018 to become its chairman.
Officials from the PML-N stated that Sanjrani was a “pro-powerful circles” candidate. Sanjrani and the ‘strong circles’, however, refuted this.
Later, a vote of no confidence in Sanjrani also failed, and a journalist had pressed the late Mir Hasil Bizenjo, the then-united opposition’s candidate for Senate chairman, regarding who among them had betrayed them.
The famously cryptic response from Bizenjo was, “They were Gen (now retired) Faiz’s men.”
Now that he has purportedly admitted to journalists in his goodbye talks that he had always been at good terms with the ‘powerful circles,’ PM Shehbaz, who is also the president of the PML-N and the opposition leader, has nominated the BAP leader as the caretaker premier.
Despite the acrimonious past, Kakar is expected to immediately take office and appoint a government, the primary mission of which will be to hold general elections within 90 days of the dissolution of the NA, despite concerns voiced by key members of the former ruling coalition that a delay in conducting the polls could lead to instability.
Concerns surfaced after the Council of Common Interests (CCI) mandated redistricting in order to hold elections in accordance with the new census.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has 120 days from the date of the CCI’s ruling to finish the delimitation process. The ECP must also provide a time frame of 54 days to complete the election calendar.
It is anticipated that, as in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the caretaker set-up could remain longer than its constitutional term of 90 days if these two responsibilities take longer than expected.
Despite the Supreme Court’s intervention, the PTI’s dissolution of both provincial assemblies did not result in the holding of hasty elections by the then-federal government. After PTI chairman and ousted Imran Khan’s detention on May 9, chaos ensued. When the PTI was attacked, it collapsed like a house of cards. The Toshakhana (gift repository) case was one of several hundred filed against the PTI leader, and ultimately resulted in his conviction and imprisonment in Attock.
By amending the Election Act of 2017, the departing government has given the caretaker administration more authority to make decisions about ongoing projects and bilateral or multilateral agreements under the Public Private Partnership Authority Act of 2017; the Inter-Governmental Commercial Transactions Act of 2022; and the Privatization Commission Ordinance of 2000.
These alterations have bolstered rumors that the caretaker arrangement will continue beyond its constitutional period, prompting concerns about Kakar’s ability to lead the country out of its current economic and political shambles until a newly elected government assumes power.
In 2013, Kakar was the government of Balochistan’s official spokesperson. His 2008 bid for a National Assembly seat in Quetta was on the PML-Q ticket.
Not only did he help start BAP, he co-founded it. Kakar is in charge of a Senate panel right now. The University of Balochistan is where he earned his Master’s degree in both politics and sociology.
Hours after being named temporary PM, Kakar tweeted, “I am thankful to the Almighty for being given an opportunity to serve the people of Pakistan.”
For “reposing their trust in me to lead the country,” he wrote, “my gratitude also extends to all the stakeholders.” He asked for prayers so that he could be diligent in carrying out his duties.
During the PML-N’s 16 months in power, two crucial allies, the PPP and the JUI-F, extended their support to Kakar.
Shazia Marri, the PPP’s secretary of information, dismissed a news article that implied her party had doubts about Kakar’s nomination.
She insisted that PM Shehbaz had been given unrestricted power by the PPP to choose the interim prime minister.
Kakar received a phone call from the JUI-F leader congratulating him on being selected as the interim prime minister.
A JUI-F statement claims that during the call, Fazl hoped that Kakar would guarantee the country’s elections will be held on time and conducted fairly.
