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| According to the notification issued by the Cabinet Division, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar was given the additional charge of Deputy Prime Minister on Sunday. |
The appointment comes at a time when Prime Minister Shehbaz and Dar, along with other ministers, are in Saudi Arabia to attend a special meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on global cooperation, development and energy.
According to the notification, the appointment has been made by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif "with immediate effect and till further orders".
Before Dar took over, the country's last deputy prime minister was Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, then of the Muslim League-Q, who was appointed to the post in June 2012.
Dar served as Federal Minister for Trade and Investment in Nawaz Sharif's 1997-99 government and twice as Federal Minister for Finance, Economic Affairs, Revenue and Statistics (1998-99 and 2008). give
Prior to his first assignment as a federal minister, he was appointed Minister of State/Chief Executive of the Pakistan Investment Board (PIB) from 1992 to 1993. He also served as President of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
In 2008, Dar briefly held the charge of federal finance minister but resigned from the post after the Muslim League (N) decided to break away from the PPP-led coalition government at the centre.
He also served as the Finance Minister in the then Prime Minister Nawaz's government in 2013.
Dar was reappointed as the Finance Minister of Pakistan from September 2022 until the end of the coalition government's term in August 2023.
Despite being the PML-N's finance expert for decades, he was surprisingly made foreign minister when Prime Minister Shehbaz chose his new-look cabinet in March this year, in which his favorite treasurer, Mohammad given to Aurangzeb.
Dar has long been considered an important part of Nawaz Sharif's inner circle. A 2017 Dawn editorial said that under Nawaz's leadership, "the former finance minister wielded greater influence, virtually acting like a deputy prime minister heading more than four dozen committees in various sectors." ".
Despite his experience, his policies and stance have been widely criticized.
Speaking to Dawn News TV in February on the program 'Dusra Rukh', PPP leader Khurshid Shah said that the party opposed the appointment of Ishaq Dar as the Finance Minister.
When asked if Dar could fix Pakistan's economy, Shah replied: "Dar could not save the economy. He was the one who damaged it."
Today PPP leader Faisal Karim Kundi said that his party has no objection to the appointment of Ishaq Dar as Deputy Prime Minister, adding that former PPP governments had also appointed Deputy Prime Ministers.
If Shahbaz Sharif wanted to appoint Ishaq Dar and he did, that is his prerogative. This is his cabinet," Kandi said while talking to Hum News.
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