Anwaar ul Haq Kakar

Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar (Urdu: انوار الحق کاکڑ; Pashto: انوار الحق کاکړ; born 1971) is a Pakistani politician who served as the longest-serving caretaker prime minister of Pakistan between 14 August 2023 and 4 March 2024. He was succeeded by his predecessor Shehbaz Sharif. He assumed membership in the Upper House of Pakistan in March 2018. Before taking on the role of caretaker prime minister, Kakar had resigned from the upper house of parliament. Subsequently, he publicly declared his resignation from both the Senate and the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), a political party he established in 2018.

Kakar also served as the spokesperson of the Government of Balochistan from 2015 to 2017.

Early life and education

Kakar was born on 15 May 1971 in Qilla Saifullah, Balochistan into a prominent middle-class Pashtun family. His grandfather, Dr Noor Ul Haq Kakar, was the personal physician of the Khan of Kalat, his father Ehtesham ul Haq Kakar was a civil servant, while his maternal uncle Arbab Yousaf Kasi and other relatives have been involved in politics. He lost his mother when he was 4, while his father died when he was 18.

Kakar was educated at St. Francis School, Quetta and later attended Cadet College Kohat. He holds a master's degree in political science and sociology, which he completed at the University of Balochistan in the 1990s. He further attempted to study law at Birkbeck, University of London in the United Kingdom but did not complete the program.

He returned to Pakistan in 2005.

Academic career

Kakar started his career as a teacher.

Kakar is fluent in Pashto, Urdu, Persian, English, Balochi and Brahui.

Political career

While acting as the Balochistan provincial spokesperson, Kakar founded an NGO called Voice of Balochistan (VOB) in 2016 and served as its CEO. The NGO managed a wide array of pro-military social media accounts aimed at refuting reports of human rights violations, enforced disappearances, and purported staged encounters by the armed forces in Balochistan. Despite being established in 2016, VOB was not officially registered until March 2021, according to government records.

Senator, 2006–2023

Kakar began his political career when he joined PML-Q in 2006. He contested a seat in the National Assembly from Quetta in the 2008 general election but was unsuccessful.

Kakar supported military actions in Balochistan during the ethnic nationalist insurgency from 2007 to 2013, often dismissing allegations of military abuses in the province and attributing unrest to external factors. In December 2015, his stance led to his appointment as the spokesperson for the Chief Minister of Balochistan during the tenure of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) government, a position he held until 2018.

In 2018, Kakar left PML-N and helped found a new political party named Balochistan Awami Party (BAP). Later, he was elected to the Senate of Pakistan as an independent candidate for a general seat from Balochistan in 2018 Pakistani Senate election. He took oath as Senator on 12 March 2018. He also remained chairperson for the Committee of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development and members of other committees including the Business Advisory Committee, Finance and Revenue, Foreign Affairs, Science and Technology.

In 2020, Kakar was briefly considered for the Federal Minister of Information position in Imran Khan's government, but he was ultimately not appointed.

Caretaker Premiership, 2023–2024

In 2023, Kakar was nominated to serve as Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan by the outgoing opposition leader and the outgoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The president Arif Alvi signed on the summary making him the 8th Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan. He took oath on the 76th independence day of Pakistan, 14 August 2023. He resigned from the Senate on 14 August 2023 and the same day, his resignation was accepted by the Chairman of the Senate Sadiq Sanjrani.

On 3 October 2023, Pakistan's caretaker government ordered that all undocumented immigrants, particularly the nearly 1.73 million Afghan nationals, voluntarily leave the country by 1 November 2023 or face deportation in a crackdown. Kakar said that the government's repatriation policy is not exclusive to Afghan nationals, but applies to all illegal immigrants in Pakistan. He stated that despite not being a signatory to the Geneva Convention, Pakistan has hosted over 4 million Afghan refugees for the past 40 years. Taliban authorities condemned the deportations of Afghans as an "inhuman act."

In October 2023, he called for a ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war. In November 2023, Kakar said that "We are witnessing a holocaust of Palestinian children in Gaza. This appalling and atrocious child holocaust must stop immediately."

It was reported that the military establishment proposed his name and Sadiq Sanjrani for the top positions in the upcoming Senate election scheduled for March 3, 2024.

Political views

Foreign policy

Kakar's foreign policy is to form the bedrock of Pakistan's partnership with the United States, China and Gulf states as primary geopolitical, geoeconomics allies, especially as security actors.

Pakistani nationalism and criticism of Baloch separatism

Kakar is a representative of "hyper Pakistani nationalism" in Balochistan. He is also regarded as having strong relations with the Pakistani military establishment.

In 2018, Kakar and Saeed Ahmed Hashmi along with some dissident Balochistan-based politicians from PML-N and PML-Q founded Balochistan Awami Party, The "establishment-sponsored" Pakistani nationalist political party It has been described as pro-establishment party in Balochistan.

He is a notable critic of Baloch separatism, he claims that because of the separatist propaganda of the Indian agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), in the name of Baloch nationalism has destroyed Balochistan, and that citizens must unite for the peace, stability and progress in the region. He also clarified that thousands of Baloch youth were killed during the past 20 years, adding that only in 2014, 155 innocent Baloch people were killed as they refused to give extortion to the separatist groups.

Under his caretaker tenure, the Baloch separatists of the Baloch Nationalist Army: Sarfraz Bangulzai and Gulzar Imam surrendered to the Government of Balochistan, and were at the forefront of the low-level insurgency in Balochistan for more than two decades. Experts have described their surrender as a significant boost for the government of Pakistan and for the progress of Balochistan.

Wealth

According to Election Commission of Pakistan, before assuming his role as caretaker PM, Kakar declared his net worth at Rs. 48.2 million (US$170,000). Among the mentioned assets are 10 tolas of gold, 50,000 shares in Pakistan Chagai Mining Limited, and 20 acres of inherited agricultural land valued at Rs 8 million. The acting prime minister also has more than Rs 20 million deposited in two different banks.

Controversies

Links with the establishment

In 2016, Kakar established the NGO, Voice of Balochistan (VOB), where he served as CEO. VOB, which was not officially registered until 2021, operated a network of pro-military social media accounts and received funds from the exchequer. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) initiated an investigation into then-Senator Kakar for alleged corruption related to the NGO, Voice of Balochistan. The investigation, which included a 2021 request by NAB Balochistan for further information from the provincial government, was closed in September 2023 following Kakar's appointment as caretaker prime minister.

Pakistan wheat import scandal

The Pakistan wheat import scandal refers to a controversy that emerged in 2024, involving the importation of a significant amount of wheat by Kakar caretaker ministry, despite the country having surplus wheat stocks. This decision allegedly caused a loss of more than 300 billion rupees to the national exchequer.

Committees

References