ISLAMABAD, April 24: Former law minister Farooq H. Naek will defend the caretaker government in Senate after his nomination as the Leader of the House by Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso.

Talking to Dawn on Wednesday, Mr Naek confirmed the development and said that he had sought prior approval of his party before accepting the offer made by the prime minister.

Mr Naek, who had served as chairman of the Senate chairman from 2009 to 2012, said his role would be to represent the prime minister in the upper house as provided in Senate rules. “Let’s see” was his simplest response when asked how he would defend the caretaker government when his party had no role in the state of the affairs.

The office had fallen vacant when Mr Jahangir Badar resigned as leader of the house on April 15.

After Mr Badar’s resignation, there was a brief debate in the Senate and members were of the view that with the dissolution of the National Assembly, there were no members of the treasury and opposition in the house. When some members suggested that any member of the caretaker cabinet could be given the role, it was pointed out by others that Senate rules did not allow any non-member to become the leader of the house or leader of the opposition.

The matter was left undecided and Senate Chairman Nayyar Bokhari asked members to discuss the issue.

In the meanwhile the caretaker prime minister requested Mr Naek to represent him in the Senate till a new prime minister was elected. The job of the leader of the house is not only to represent the prime minister but to ensure presence of the ministers in the house during the question hour or any other business.

Having no representation in the house, the caretaker ministers had to face a difficult time in Senate in its last session when members harshly criticised the government for failing to provide protection to election candidates in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan.

A Senate session is expected to be called next week because 33 members have submitted a requisition notice for discussing developments in cases being faced by Gen Musharraf.