The saga surrounding the country’s new caretaker Prime Minister finally came to an end when the incumbent Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Khursheed Shah agreed to nominate former Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk as the caretaker prime minister.
Justice Mulk, who will be the country’s seventh caretaker Prime Minister, was the 22nd Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), and served as the CJP from 6 July 2014 till 16 August 2015.
The former CJP was born on August 17, 1950, in Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and achieved his Bachelor’s in Law (LLB) degree from the University of Peshawar in 1972. He then went to the United Kingdom and became a barrister-at-law of the Inner Temple, London in 1976.
Justice Mulk’s legal career is replete with several high-profile and prominent cases. He authored the verdict in the infamous 1999 plane hijacking case which allowed Nawaz Sharif to return to politics.
The new interim PM also heard the Mukhatran Mai case in 2002, a case that sent shock waves throughout Pakistan.
The former CJP also headed a seven-member bench that held former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani guilty of contempt for not writing a letter to Swiss authorities. PM Gillani was later disqualified from office as well.
The incoming caretaker PM was also among seven judges who signed a restraining order against former President Pervez Musharraf when he promulgated an emergency on the 3rd of November, 2007.
He however later rejoined the judiciary on the 20th of September, 2008 under the Naek formula which allowed Justice Mulk to take a fresh oath of a judge of the Supreme Court, while keeping his seniority intact.
The former Chief Justice also headed the commission that was formed to probe allegations of rigging in the 2013 general elections.
Justice Mulk became a judge of the Supreme Court on 4th April, 2005, while he became chief justice of the Peshawar High Court on 31st May 2004.
Mr Mulk had also previously served as the erstwhile North West Frontier Province’s (NWFP) Advocate General in 1993, after which he became a judge of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) in 1994.
The incoming caretaker PM is expected to take his oath on the 1st of June, 2018, a day after Parliament will stand dissolved.