Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar was given the additional charge of deputy prime minister on Sunday, according to a notification issued by the Cabinet Division.
According to the notification, the appointment was made by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif “with immediate effect and until further orders”.
Before Dar taking the role, the last deputy prime minister of the country was Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, then of PML-Q, who was appointed to the position in June 2012.
Dar had long been the PML-N’s finance expert but was surprisingly made the minister of foreign affairs when PM Shehbaz picked his new look cabinet in March, with his preferred finance portfolio going to Muhammad Aurangzeb.
In July, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, had proposed Dar’s name for the position of interim prime minister but was rebuffed by the PPP.
More to follow
