Islamabad (Web Desk): Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar took oath as the 8th caretaker prime minister of Pakistan on Monday.
President Dr Arif Alvi administered oath to him at a ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad.
Former premier Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, members of ex-federal cabinet, and other high-ranking officials attended the ceremony.
Following the oath taking ceremony, the interim premier also met officials of the armed forces and shook hands with them.
Earlier today, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjarani on Monday accepted Anwaarul Haq Kakar’s resignation from the upper house of the Parliament after latter’s appointment as the caretaker prime minister.
A day earlier, Kakar had announced his resignation from the Senate as well as from his Balochistan Awami Party (BAP).
According to an official notification, the decision has come as a result of his unwavering commitment to maintaining a principled stance of neutrality upon assuming the role of caretaker prime minister.
Kakar’s resignation was communicated through a handwritten letter addressed to Senate’s Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani.
The Senate chairman, recognizing the significance of Kakar’s decision, has graciously accepted it.
As a result, Kakar’s seat in the Senate now stands vacant, in accordance with the provisions outlined in Clause (1) of Article 64 of the Constitution.
The resignation takes effect from August 14, 2023, marking a pivotal moment in Pakistan’s political landscape.
Last week, President Dr Arif Alvi approved Kakar's appointment as the caretaker prime minister after PM Shehbaz Sharif and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Raja Riaz agreed on his nomination.
Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar was elected as an independent Senator from Balochistan province for a tenure of March 2018 to March 2024.
He is also one of the founding members of BAP and was appointed as the central spokesperson of the party in 2018.
While serving as senator, Kakar was the chairman of Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development and as a member of the Business Advisory Committee, Finance and Revenue, Foreign Affairs, and Science and Technology.
Earlier, he served as spokesman for the government of Balochistan from December 2015 to January 2018.
An avid intellectual, with keen insight on the issues faced by Pakistan, particularly Balochistan province, Mr Kakar has been sharing his perspective at academic and policy making platforms, both nationally and internationally.
These include interactions with students and faculty members at Pakistan’s top-ranking universities, closed door sessions with the country’s policy makers, briefings to the country’s political and military elite, sessions on building the Balochistan narrative with the diplomatic corps based in Islamabad, as well as a significant number of nationally televised political talk shows.
Born in 1971, Anwaarul Haq Kakar hails from Muslim Bagh, Killa Saifullah district of Balochistan.
He obtained Master’s degrees in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Balochistan. Kakar is an alumnus of the prestigious National Security Workshop from the National Defence University, Islamabad.
He is also the patron-in-chief of the Voice of Balochistan, an independent perception building initiative he masterminded. Mr Kakar is fluent in English, Urdu, Persian, Pashto, Balochi and Brahvi.
