Daily Times

Retired Justice Maqbool Baqar on Thursday took the oath as the caretaker chief minister of Sindh which was officiated by Governor Kamran Tessori.

Baqar was nominated as the interim CM after consensus between former Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and the Leader of the Opposition in the provincial assembly Rana Ansar. Both had jointly recommended Baqar’s appointment. The proposal to appoint former Supreme Court judge Maqbool Baqar for the interim chief minister position was put forth by the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

Justice Baqar’s extensive legal background includes his service as a Supreme Court judge and Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court (SHC).

Born in Karachi in 1957, he graduated in law from Karachi University and commenced his legal practice in 1981.

He was appointed as an additional judge of the Sindh High Court in 2002 and later became a permanent judge in August 2003. His illustrious career led to his elevation as Chief Justice of SHC in September 2013, followed by his appointment to the Supreme Court in 2015.

Earlier, in an interview, Maqbool Baqar said that “every effort” should be made to speed the delimitations process up and it would be ideal if the elections were held in the prescribed 90-day timeframe. He stated that it would be ideal if elections are held within the time prescribed by the constitution however the caretaker government will take a holistic view of the “constitutional position”.

“Every effort should be made to speed it up, and it would be ideal if the elections are held within the time prescribed but then again we have to see and analyse the constitutional position, taking a holistic view,” he said.

The caretaker chief minister stated that the decision regarding the delimitations was taken by all “active” political parties and as a caretaker CM of the province, he cannot interfere in the process, adding that the responsibility for the delimitations lies with the ECP and the government will assist them if necessary.

“This is a decision made by all the active political parties of Pakistan and this is their decision so as a caretaker I cannot interfere in that,” he said. While referring to Karachi, the incoming caretaker CM listed a series of woes that the city struggles with, adding that he will try to do well for the city but limited resources would be an issue. “So far as the city is concerned, the city of Karachi is facing gigantic problems … we are overpopulated, there is a law and order situation, our infrastructure is crumbling, there are electricity outages, there is water shortage, public transport is another problem “I promise this much that I will try to do as much as possible given the circumstances,” he said.