ISLAMABAD: Shortly after taking the oath as the seventh caretaker prime minister of the country on Friday, former chief justice of Pakistan Nasirul Mulk pledged to hold general elections on July 25 as per their schedule in an attempt to end speculations about a possible delay.

“Take my words that elections will be held on time,” asserted the caretaker prime minister while talking to reporters after being administered the oath by President Memnoon Hussain at the Presidency.

Former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, three services chiefs, politicians and bureaucrats also attended the oath-taking ceremony. The services chiefs left the banquette hall after meeting and congratulating the caretaker prime minister. However, not a single leader from the opposition attended the function.

Clad in a black suit with a white shirt and a navy-blue tie, the caretaker prime minister, while proceeding from the presidency’s banquette hall to the main lobby, gave brief answers to the questions asked by journalists.

About the cabinet that he is likely to announce within a couple of days, Mr Nasir said: “The size of the cabinet will be small. I would try to meet the expectation of the people and fulfil whatever responsibility I have been given.”

PM Nasir also received a guard of honour following the oath-taking ceremony.

In one of the first orders after taking over the charge, the caretaker prime minister replaced secretary to the prime minister Fawad Hasan Fawad with Sohail Amir, who was earlier working as cabinet secretary of the PML-N government, while appointing the former as the Civil Services Academy’s director general.

As many high-ranking officials of the PM Office have already been transferred to key positions, some new faces are expected to be brought in. Additional Secretary Babar Hayat had been made chief secretary of Gilgit-Baltistan, Additional Secretary Kamran had been sent to the finance division while Joint Secretary Shakeel Shad had been transferred to the Federal Board of Revenue.

Except one or two grade-20 officers, the present PM Office staff comprised officers of grade-19 and below ranks. Further reshuffle in the bureaucracy is expected in the coming days.

A source at the PM Office told Dawn that the caretaker prime minister got some briefings and left his office around 4pm. At his office, the source said, there was no discussion on the cabinet of the interim set-up or who would be its members.

Mulk says the size of his cabinet will be small after taking oath as seventh caretaker prime minister

The former CJP, Nasirul Mulk, had been unanimously nominated as the seventh caretaker prime minister by former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah.

Justice Nasir was one of the seven judges who signed a restraining order on Nov 3, 2007, when Gen Musharraf imposed emergency and forcibly sent the judges home. He resumed work on Sept 20, 2008, taking fresh oath as a judge of the Supreme Court with his seniority intact under an arrangement devised by the Pakistan Peoples Party government. He later became the 22nd Chief Justice of Pakistan. He conducted a contempt case against then prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and convicted Mr Gilani for 30 seconds.

Having also served as acting Chief Election Com­missioner, the caretaker prime minister has additional experience of holding general elections.

Earlier at PM House, former premier Abbasi was given a guard of honour on Friday morning, as he could not receive it a day ago due to his other engagements. He then went straight to the presidency to attend the oath-taking ceremony.

Sources said the former prime minister called for continuation of policies. He said: “It is important that a democratic phase is over with the completion of five-year term of the PML-N government but [it is] more important that the policies good for the country should be continued.”

Mr Abbasi had replaced former prime minister Nawaz Sharif after the July 28, 2017 verdict of the Supreme Court in Panama Papers case that led to the latter’s disqualification.

In their farewell speeches, both ex-prime minister Abbasi and leader of the opposition Syed Khursheed Shah had vowed not to support any delay in the elections. They also had demanded Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate all major political incidents which took place in the country since 1947.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2018