Anwaarul Haq Kakar, who has been named the eighth caretaker prime minister of Pakistan, will be taking the government’s reins at a time when the country is struggling in the face of political and economic crises.

He will be the second person from Balochistan to assume the role of the country’s interim prime minister, the first being Justice (retd) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso.

His appointment comes with less than a year left in the completion of his six-year term in the Senate that will conclude in March 2024.

According to Radio Pakistan, Kakar hails from Qilla Saifullah and holds a Master’s degree in Political Science, Sociology and is an alumnus of the University of Balochistan.

His profile by BBC Urdu says he later went to London for a degree in law but returned to Pakistan due to his interest in politics.

The article states that Kakar began his political career with the PML-N but left it after the end of the Nawaz government as a result of a military coup by the late General Pervez Musharraf in 1999. He then joined the PML-Q, a breakaway faction of the PML-N formed by leaders who had sided with Gen Musharraf.

Kakar contested the 2008 general elections as a member of the PML-Q but lost, according to the BBC Urdu profile, which further says that Kakar was appointed as the spokesperson for the Balochistan government after a coalition of the PML-N and nationalist parties formed a government in the province in 2013.

He was elected as an independent senator from Balochistan in 2018 and soon after his election, he joined other independent lawmakers and PML-N dissidents in launching a new regional party — the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP).

The PML-N and Baloch and Pashtun nationalist parties had labelled the hastily-cobbled alliance of the province’s electables “a move of the establishment”.

Meanwhile, Kakar assumed multiple roles during his term in the Senate, working as chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, and as a member of the Business Advisory Committee, Finance and Revenue, Foreign Affairs and Science and Technology.

He also undertook the role of parliamentary leader for the BAP within the Senate.

The senator navigated this leadership position for a considerable five-year duration. Nonetheless, a mere five months ago, the party resolved to opt for new leadership, leading to his replacement.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Strategic and Contemporary Research (CSCR), an Islamabad-based research institute, also mentioned his proficiency in English, Urdu, Persian, Pushto, Balochi, and Brahvi languages.