An ethnic Pashtun from Balochistan, belonging to the Kakar tribe, Mr. Anwaarul Haq Kakar took oath of office as the Caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan on 14th August 2023. According to the law an interim setup is primarily meant to perform one fundamental task: conducting free and fair elections, along with running the day-to-day operations of the government. However, due to a raft of legislation in July 2023 by the outgoing government, amendments were made to the laws giving unprecedented powers to the interim government, allowing it to make major policy decisions relating to financial and economic affairs including the authority to make important decisions and sign agreements with the international institutions and foreign governments. A number of very important decisions included a nationwide crackdown initiated under his directives against individuals and groups involved in dollar smuggling, hoarding, and organised crime cartels that have been causing substantial losses to the national economy. In a meeting an apex committee of the National Action Plan, the Prime Minister issued directives to all illegal aliens and foreigners living illegally in Pakistan to leave voluntarily or face deportation. Unfortunately there was an incorrect perception that this measure was exclusive for undocumented Afghans, while factually this applies to all foreign nationals residing within Pakistan’s borders.
In an in-depth and informal interview published in this magazine we get to learn first-hand about Anwaarul Haq Kakar’s his love for Pakistan. His motivation to enter politics stemmed from a deep desire to serve his country and contribute to its development. While his initial goals and aspirations were to bring about positive change, address the issues faced by the people, and work towards the progress and prosperity of Pakistan. A great believer in addressing the challenges of poverty and inequality is the country, in implementing strategic plans to uplift the socio- economic conditions in the region, his priorities are focusing on education, healthcare, job creation, and infrastructure projects. His outlook on the very sensitive topics of women’s rights and on the issue of political prisoners was quite enlightening as believes his government is committed to fostering an environment under which every citizen, irrespective of gender and ethnicity, enjoys their rights. In order to address many of the concerns that have been raised by the media and others, he asserted that initiatives are already in place. His government is working to increase voter education and engagement to ensure a fair and participatory election process. Very much devoted to Pakistan hewants to promote peace and development in his country, particularly in his home province of Balochistan that remains under-developed even today, he has a comprehensive plan to address the root causes that fosters terrorism and extremism. To do this he aims to promote education, provide economic opportunities and inclusive governance. He want to work towards improving the security situation and encouraging dialogue and reconciliation among different stakeholders.
For him personally it is a matter of great honor that all coalition parties and the Opposition in the previous government had expressed their full confidence in him and proposed hisname as Caretaker PM. All through his political career, he has worked tirelessly to promote peace, development, and prosperity in Balochistan and his focus has always been on addressing the root causes that spawn, fostering economic growth, and improving the lives of the people through various initiatives. In order to tackle the economic challenges that the nation is faced with today, his government is taking a diversified approach, some key pillars towards this are initiating fiscal reform, monetary policies that are prudent, strategic investments in crucial sectors like infrastructure, agriculture, and technology, improving governance and regulatory frameworks, and prioritizing investor confidence through various initiatives, simplify regulatory procedures, and encourage foreign investment. These measures should control inflation, stabilize the currency, and drive economic growth as well as employment. Under the Caretaker administration, a reduction in inflation and a substantial reduction in oil prices has come into effect. Exports have increased and most importantly, the government has reduced the current account deficit. A Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) has been setup to promote investment which has “whole of the government approach. This government has also successfully concluded a staff-level agreement on the first review of Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) with IMF and it is to be noted that foreign exchange reserves have increased significantly since The Prime Minister was quite happy of being able to hand over a stable economy to the incoming government.
In 2024 the WEF Annual Meeting is being held from January 15 to January 19. It is our privilege that that Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar has very graciously consented to the Chief Guest at our regular annual event, the PAKISTAN BREAKFAST on Wednesday, January 17, 2024 at the Morosani Posthotel. Mr. Anwaarul Haq Kakar is no stranger to Davos and the World Economy Forum’s (WEF) Annual Meetings, he had accompanied the then Chief Minister of Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan to the WEF Annual Summit 2019. Mr. Jam Kamal Khan was the Chief Guest at the Pakistan Breakfast 2019 where he made a good case for Pakistan, speaking with clarity and eloquence inviting investors to come to Pakistan. At this meeting the CM was assisted by Senator Anwaarul Haq Kakar who was very clear headed and quite brilliant, I had written about him in my article published in January 27, 2019 and I quote, “without question this man has a major role to play in future Pakistan politics and governance thereof, one cannot say enough about him but it also shows Jam Kamal’s clear headedness and positive personal confidence to have such an advisor close to him”, unquote. Without doubt Mr. Kakar is the man of the moment today.” Unquote.
For the PATHFINDER GROUP it is a matter of great pride holding the 20th PAKISTAN
BREAKFAST during the Annual Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos regularly for the last nineteen years. Both events are entirely funded by private corporate entities without any government support and have by now become an integral part of the WEF Annual Meeting at Davos. This unique presentation of Pakistan in this global forum has for many years been a tremendous platform for both current and past Pakistani leaders – civilian and military both – to inform the international community and the media about what is really going on in Pakistan in an attempt to improve the image of Pakistan. Facing a serious crisis of image internationally, the PAKISTAN BREAKFAST has been successful in dispelling the negative perception before a very precocious audience. In 2018 former PM Abbasi was on the dot when he said, “There are two Pakistans, one is on the CNN and the other is the reality” reflecting that at times the international media has shown bias in very quickly disseminating any news that paints Pakistan in a negative manner. The many positive and good aspects of Pakistan are unfortunately overlooked or misreported many times.
For Pakistan it is extremely important that it really needs an international face lifting to be present in Davos. India stages major annual appearances in Davos during those crucial four days. They offer walk-in information points about their countries, policies and represent their national opinions that are not taken normally in the media.
Participants in the 2024 Annual Meeting will primarily focus on exploring the opportunities enabled by the new technologies and their implications on decision-making and global partnership. Leaders from government, business, and civil society will converge at Davos to address the state of the world and discuss priorities for the year ahead. Significantly enough the event is taking place at a moment of ‘polycrisis,’ a term that describes the coming together of multiple crises, such as the climate and biodiversity crises, the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas conflict and concerns over cost-of-living. As always, the Annual Meeting will provide a platform to engage in constructive, forward-looking dialogues and help find solutions through public-private cooperation.
A Pakistani Group from Lahore did try but they did not do their homework and relied on their own govt contacts, they would have done Pakistan proud by contacting us. We have the same objective, promoting Pakistan. Instead of that they depended upon help from a few greedy persons who tried to imitate our two decades long experience to make money. They failed miserably because reportedly they were selling 25-30 “STALLS” in a prestigious hotel each for between CHF 40000-50000. You cannot promote Pakistan when your intention is to make money only. Luckily it did not happen, nothing CHEAP like this is ever done in DAVOS!
It is quite unfortunate that other than a handful of Pakistani businessmen, the huge potential that Davos presents has never been realized, Pakistan has never been adequately represented at this forum on a consistent basis. Today the global village is becoming increasingly inter-connected and fast-paced with huge technological breakthrough, demographic shifts and political transformations that have far-reaching societal and economic consequences. With the world becoming so fluid and changeable, today’s leaders have to share real-time insights and innovations on how to best navigate the future and inter-act positively on a plethora of issues. While I and a few Pakistanis are taking the initiative every year at Davos on our own, it is time that other Pakistani entrepreneurs will come forward and do more to communicate Pakistan’s case to the world given that it is a greatly misunderstood country. While a Pakistani Head of State or of Government needs to represent Pakistan Davos every year, private sector participation also needs to be drastically expanded if we are to take advantage of commercial opportunities that can be networked in Davos and government-to-government interaction without the restraints shackles of red-tapism and protocol.
