Tanveer Singh Kapoor, Pune
Pakistan’s interim Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar appointed a new caretaker cabinet in Islamabad on Thursday, August 17, ahead of the national elections, which take place in early November.
The government’s main priority is economic stabilization as the $350 million economy is on a slender recovery path as it waits for a sovereign debt default after a last-minute $3 billion rescue arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, the economic changes put into place have led to historically high inflation rates. The fundamental problem facing the interim administration continues to be economic stabilization.
Kakar was appointed on Monday, August 14, after President Arif Alvi dissolved the Parliament last week following Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s advice. He hired the new cabinet on Thursday, which was later sworn in by Alvi.
According to Pakistan’s constitution, an impartial interim administration will preside over elections that must take place no later than early November, which is three months after the lower house of Parliament is dissolved.
The Election Commission must draw new boundaries for hundreds of federal and provincial seats, which may delay the election. A date for the election will then be revealed.
According to official media, the electoral commission declared later on Thursday that additional seats would be finalized by December 14.
Jalil Abbas Jilani, the former US ambassador, was appointed the foreign minister, and former central bank chief Shamshad Akhtar was named the finance minister as part of the new caretaker cabinet.
Sarfaraz Bugti, a former provincial minister, is one of the other fresh faces in the government. The Minister for Human Rights is Mishaal Malik, the wife of the jailed Kashmiri politician Yaseen Malik.