Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar has said that he was ‘not apologetic’ about being the military’s pick for the interim setup that would oversee the elections in January 2024.
“I’m not being apologetic. I’m not trying to create the impression otherwise,” he said in an interview with Zeinab Badawi of BBC News’ show HARDtalk. A clip from the interview was shared on X, erstwhile Twitter, on Saturday.
‘I’m not being apologetic. I’m not trying to create the impression otherwise’
Pakistan’s Caretaker Prime Minister @anwaar_kakar on whether he’s the military’s choice to run the country until the postponed elections take place pic.twitter.com/4IhypZQDG3
— BBC HARDtalk (@BBCHARDtalk) September 29, 2023
Kakar was responding to a follow-up question about whether he was the military’s choice to run the country until the postponed elections take place.
“I am just trying to illustrate the reasons why do people think that way.”
“In my opinion, the issue is that the civil institutions, when they are assigned to deliver on account of the governance they fail and they have deteriorated their capacity in the last four or five decades. And by design or default, on the other hand, the military as an organisation has gained strength. So whenever a challenge occurs on account of the governance the government has to rely on the military.”
When asked about whether he was saying that the military was very strong in Pakistan but with justifiable reasons as the civilians, according to him, were not up to it, basically, Kakar said: “Well pragmatically of course yes. That’s what exactly I’m saying.”
