Khoso takes oath as Pakistan's 6th interim PM

President Asif Ali Zardari administers Khoso's oath.

ISLAMABAD: Justice (retd) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso took oath as country’s sixth interim prime minister on Monday, Express News reported.

Khoso’s oath was administered by President Asif Ali Zardari.

Close associates of the president and members of the outgoing government attended the ceremony.

Khoso is now expected to pick a paired-down interim cabinet that will preside with him over the country until the victor of the May 11 general election can form a coalition government and take office.

The retired judge 84, was selected by the Election Commission of Pakistan after a parliamentary committee and rival parties failed to agree on a candidate. He belongs to the province of Balochistan.

The outgoing government had proposed Khoso and a former central bank governor Dr Ishrat Husain, while the main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N put forward the name of another retired judge Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid and a politician Rasool Bux Paliejo.

Background

A venerated officer, bearing a reputation of honesty, Khoso, 84, hails from the Goth Azam Khan Khoso in Jaffarabad district of Balochistan. Nominated by the ruling party, his first political appointment came as the Acting Governor of Balochistan – an office he kept for three months after the death of Governor Muhammad Musa, who served as the 10th governor of the province from December 17, 1985 to March 12, 1991.

Earlier, having served as judge of the Balochistan High Court, Khoso was promoted to assume the position of Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court for a tenure spanning from 1990 to 1991.

Since long, Khoso has steered clear from politics, focusing mainly to his Zakat Council job. However, he is active as an agriculturist in his town Subatpur.