Govt to fulfill constitutional requirement of assisting electoral process: Caretaker PM Kakar

ISLAMABAD (APP) - Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Tuesday said the caretaker government’s prime mandate was to assist and monitor the electoral process which was the constitutional requirement.

Addressing the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, he said that keeping in mind the prime mandate, the caretaker government would monitor its day-to-day activities to the best of its abilities. “We are here as a constitutional continuation for a limited period of time and we are not here to design the government model or structure,” he added.

He maintained that as a continuation of the previous government, the caretaker setup was generally supposed to carry on with the general policy until and unless there were any violation of rules or business.

“The National Assembly has retired and we are waiting for the new elections,” he said, adding that the second arm of the parliament-the Upper House was still there but it could not do legislation alone till there was the Lower House.

He asked the cabinet members to come up with a work plan by taking briefings from their respective ministries and the next cabinet meeting agenda would be based on that work plan.

The prime minister informed the meeting about his previous day’s visit to Jaranwala. He said extremism and religious agitation will never be allowed in the country and protection of minorities in Pakistan was the foremost duty of the state. He expressed his resolve to punish all those involved in the incident of Jaranwala.

The meeting recommended to organize a national level inter-faith harmony conference next week. "Scholars of different religions and schools of thought would be invited to the conference. The conference will prove to be an important milestone for the promotion of inter-faith harmony in Pakistan," he added.

On the recommendation of the Finance Ministry, the interim federal cabinet fixed the amount of Diyat, which is equal to 30,630 grams of silver at Rs 6,757,902 for the year 2023-24.