Pak’s caretaker PM Kakar halts official duties ahead of formation of new coalition govt: Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has ceased official duties and returned all pending files awaiting his approval, leaving all major decisions to the new coalition government set to be formed early next month, a media report said on Tuesday.

Kakar said all pending decisions and summaries will now be deferred to the incoming government, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

“We are simply awaiting the new government’s inauguration,” the 52-year-old politician from Balochistan, who became the interim prime minister in August last year, was quoted as saying.

“Furthermore, we will provide the new administration with a comprehensive briefing on our activities and projects,” he added.

Meanwhile, a political controversy erupted on Monday after President Dr Arif Alvi reportedly rejected a move to summon the first session of the newly elected National Assembly on February 29.

The president rejected the summary from the caretaker parliamentary affairs ministry and maintained that all reserved seats be allocated before the summoning of the session in which newly-elected members of the National Assembly will take oath, Geo News quoted sources as saying.

Alvi, who is inclined towards the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was a senior member of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party before the cricketer-turned-politician made him the country's President in 2018.

After the president’s denial, National Assembly outgoing Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf decided to convene the session of the lower house of parliament on February 29, the report said.

This decision follows consultations with senior officers and constitutional experts of the National Assembly Secretariat, who reviewed the situation arising from the president's refusal to sign the summary.

According to constitutional provisions, the meeting of the National Assembly must be convened within 21 days of the elections, and February 29 is the mandated date under Article 91, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party agreed on a power-sharing deal to form a new coalition government after intense negotiations following a fractured poll verdict.

In a joint news conference last week, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari announced that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shehbaz Sharif, 72, will assume the role of the prime minister once again. A new coalition government is expected to be formed in the first week of March, according to media reports.

Similarly, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, 68, will be the joint candidate for the president’s office.