'Lightweight' Senator Kakar to be sworn in as Pakistan's caretaker PM
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The swearing-in is scheduled for Monday, which marks Pakistan's Independence Day, during a time of political turbulence and turmoil.
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Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar photo taken during an interview for AFP in Quetta (AFP)
Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, a little-known senator, is scheduled to be sworn in as Pakistan's caretaker prime minister on Monday in order to lead the nation into the upcoming election in months.
Imran Khan 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 the afternoon of Monday, which marks the nation's Independence Day, he will be sworn in during a ceremony that will be broadcast live on television.
"I have confidence in the caretaker prime minister's ability to conduct free and fair elections," outgoing Premier Shehbaz Sharif said late Sunday.
Selecting a cabinet to govern the nation as it enters an election phase that might last months will be Kakar's first mission.
In accordance with the constitution, elections must be held within 90 days after the official dissolution of parliament last week.
However, the results of the most recent census were ultimately made public earlier this month, and the departing administration claimed that this gave the election commission more time to redraw constituency lines.
As the regime tries to stabilize a nation dealing with converging security, economic, and political challenges, there has been a discussion of a vote being postponed for months.
Since Khan was ousted as Prime Minister following 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.
In recent months, authorities have taken a tough stance against Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, crushing his grassroots power by rounding up thousands of his supporters and officials.
Kakar "has a limited political career and not much weight in Pakistani politics," according to political expert Hasan Askari Rizvi, but this could be to his advantage.
"This can be an advantage because he has no strong affiliation with the major political parties," he said, adding that the disadvantage, however, "is that being a lightweight politician, he may find it difficult to cope with the problems he's going to face without the active support of the military establishment."
Ayesha Siddiqa, a fellow analyst, pointed out that Kakar had taken classes at the National Defense University, which served as the military's war college, and claimed he would be connected to the institution.
"It seems that the establishment has struck and they have found somebody who will be watching over their interests rather than that of politicians," she said.
Another sign that the caretaker government might last for some time is the hastily passed legislation by parliament last month that provides it with extra authority to bargain with international organizations like the International Monetary Fund.
According to some observers, the postponement may give the key coalition partners, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), time to consider how to handle the challenge posed by Khan's PTI.
Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, said that "in reality, delaying the election could simply anger the public more and galvanise an opposition that has already suffered through months of crackdowns."
The possibility of election violence was something the United States expressed alarm over last week, although a confidential Pakistani government document acquired by The Intercept detailed how the US State Department was the side that pressured the Pakistani government in March 2022 to oust Imran Khan due to his neutral position on Russia.
Read next: It's all in 'Cypher': How US exerted pressure on Pakistan to oust Khan
Pakistan's military -- which pulled out at least three successful coups since the nation was created from the partition of India in 1947 -- lurks behind every election.
When Khan took office in 2018, he had genuinely broad support, but observers claim that was only possible with the assistance of the nation's powerful generals, with whom he reportedly fell out in the months prior to his removal.
