Pakistan: Who is Mir Hazar Khan Khoso?

Karachi: After nerve-shattering deliberations for about ten days, Pakistan on Sunday finally selected its first constitutionally elected caretaker prime minister, paving the way towards elections and a subsequently smooth power transition.

The Pakistan Election Commission (PEC) elected Mir Hazar Khan Khoso, a retired judge from the least developed Balochistan province as caretaker prime minister of the country until the May 9 elections.

Khoso was born on September 30, 1929 in a far-flung village of Azam Khan in the Jaffarabad district of the western Balochistan province. He may have received his primary education in his hometown as there are no records found but he graduated from the University of Sindh in 1954 and after two years secured a bachelor’s degree in law from Karachi University.

Khoso, who is known for his simplicity, began his professional career in 1957 as a lawyer of then West Pakistan Karachi Bench and then became a Supreme Court lawyer in 1980. He was chosen to become a judge at Balochistan High Court in 1977 and served that position for next two years. He was reappointed as an additional judge in March 1985 and he was confirmed as a permanent judge of the provincial high court in 1987.

The caretaker prime minister was elevated as the chief justice of Balochistan High Court in 1989. He was appointed as governor of Balochistan twice but for brief periods. Firstly he governed the province from June 25 until July 12 in 1990 and from March 13 1991 until July 13 in 1991.

After reaching superannuation and thus retirement from the judicial services Khoso was appointed as a judge of the Federal Shariat Court that rules according to Islamic injunction. After assuming his new responsibilities in 1991 the next year he was promoted as the chief justice of the Shariat Court and continued to be so until 1994.

PEC chairman Fakh G Ebrahim, announcing Khoso’s appointment, said that out of the five members of the PEC he was elected by four commissioners with one dissenting vote.

Soon after the declaration of his appointment caretaker prime minister, Khoso vowed to hold fair and impartial elections in the country.

“Definitely my top priority is holding fair, impartial and peaceful elections in the country,” he told the media.

For the law and order situation he said, he would consult the chief ministers of the provinces to discuss the issue and would devise a strategy to curb violent incidents.