Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, a little-known senator, was scheduled to be sworn in as Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister on Monday in order to lead the nation through an upcoming election.
Imran Khan, the most well-liked politician in Pakistan, is currently imprisoned and barred from running for office for five years while Kakar, 52, takes over the leadership of a nation that has been plagued by political and economic upheaval for months.
On Monday afternoon, the nation’s Independence Day, he will be sworn in during a ceremony that will be shown live on television.
“I have confidence in the caretaker prime minister’s ability to conduct free and fair elections,” outgoing premier Shehbaz Sharif said in a farewell address to the nation late Sunday.
Selecting a cabinet to govern the nation as it enters an election phase that might last months will be Kakar’s first order of business.
In accordance with the constitution, elections must be held within 90 days after the official dissolution of parliament last week.
However, the most recent census results were ultimately made public earlier this month, and the departing administration said the election commission needed more time to redraft constituency lines.
A poll being postponed has been rumored for months as the leadership tries to stabilize a nation dealing with converging security, economic, and political issues.
Since Khan was removed as prime minister by a no-confidence vote in April 2022, the nation has seen political unrest, which culminated in his three-year graft prison sentence this weekend.
Although he has been barred from holding public office for five years, he is appealing his conviction and punishment.
