President Arif Alvi on Thursday administered oath to 19 members of newly appointed interim cabinet of the caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, who would steer the country during the election season. According to a list of cabinet members issued by the Presidency, 16 federal ministers took oath while the interim Chief Executive also appointed three advisers for his ease.
A glimpse on the list of caretaker Ministers and advisers of the newly crowned Prime Minister gave a gust of satisfaction to every Pakistani that except a few individuals rest of the aides of Mr. Kakar have a nonpolitical background, despite the fact that all appointed former bureaucrats served as a yes man with the past rulers once in the country’s history. A majority of the appointees are well known to the public because of their regular appearance in prime time talk shows on private TV Channels, scholarly work and reporting on the media. Interestingly, a few individuals only took benefit of their relationship with top political figures or intimacy with powerful quarters in the national capital. Thus, along with some genuine nation saviours, several opportunists and persons of no character/value reached top slots for the sake of their hidden motives, political and monetary gains or to serve as a pawn for their facilitators.
Previously, the caretaker Prime Minister and his cabinet was only assigned with the task of holding peaceful and smooth elections, maintenance of domestic law and order, and fulfilment of routine governance tasks at the centre and provincial levels. However, the PML-N led coalition government introduced multiple amendments to the Election Act-2017 before leaving the office, that empowered the caretaker setup to make important decisions like elected administrations regarding country’s long term foreign and monetary policies, dealing with global institutions and signing of bilateral/ multilateral contracts at the global level. Although, it was the genuine need of the country, yet that legislation was not time bound or case specific and likely to remained effective and all future interim governments would enjoy unlimited powers, while the coming generations will pay price for self motivated decisions of non elected and foreign imported leaders as it did in the past.
Realistically, Pakistani politics and state affairs revolve around the party policies of the major civic groups, who introduced the legacy of compromise, give and take, and win win strategy regarding important state affairs such as appointment of NAB Chairman, selection of Chief Election Commissioner, nomination of caretaker Prime Minister and many other important portfolios including Chairman Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament for the so-called purpose of ensuring merit and promoting transparency in the governmental affairs. All that has been done in good political sense yet it caused serious issues with respect to across the board accountability, weakened national institutions, undermined rule of the law and gave birth to multiple social, political and governance problems in the country.
Currently, an interim setup has sworn into the office amid highly volatile political and economic landscapes in the country. The public has good belief in caretaker Prime Minister and his newly crowned advisers, who recently took over a delicate national responsibility to smoothly, safely, and impartiality sail the country through a brief but very crucial election period. Hopefully, the entire team would religiously undertake its official obligations without indulging in political biases, lust for power and monetary gains or political agenda of either group in the country. Seemingly, the caretaker leaders would have no other manifesto except to think about Pakistan and work for the betterment and well being of the Pakistanis. The public and media is specially focused on performance of the short-term government, whereas, cabinet as a whole and each member individually would be gauged for his conduct and service to the nation. Although, task is difficult and situations are inimical yet nothing is impossible and the Pakistani nation has a history of doing miracles in difficult circumstances throughout in the past. Good luck new rulers, you got an opportunity to serve the nation and leave an inspiring legacy. After all, the nation will remember you for good deeds or otherwise throughout in the Country’s history.
