KARACHI: Retired Justice Maqbool Baqar was on Thursday sworn in as the caretaker Chief Minister of Sindh at a ceremony held at Governor House on Thursday.

Governor Kamran Tess­ori administered the oath.

Those who attended the ceremony included outgoing chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and members of the dissolved cabinet; many ex-MPAs, former chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, senior leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Paki­stan, Grand Democratic Alliance; senior government officials, diplamats and notables of the city.

After the ceremony, care­taker CM Justice Baqar was greeted by leaders of ruling and opposition parties, as well as mem­bers of the recently dissolved provincial assembly.

Earlier, the outgoing chief minister, Syed Mur­ad Ali Shah, was given a guard of honour at CM House.

It was minutes before the deadline on Monday that Syed Murad Ali Shah and leader of the opposition in the now dissolved assembly Rana Ansar had agreed on the name of Justice Baqar to be appointed as the caretaker chief minister.

Justice Baqar is a former judge of the Supreme Court and also a former chief justice of the Sindh High Court.

A day after the official announcement of his appo­in­tment as the caretaker chief minister, Justice Baqar told Dawn that his primary focus would be on ensuring prompt election in a transparent manner as it was the primary duty of a caretaker set-up.

Known for his judgments against militants and terrorists, Justice Baqar had survived a suicide bomb attack in June 2013 on his convoy that had killed nine people and left over a dozen injured.

The attack was later clai­med by the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2023