Islamabad. Another dreadful case of political violence has come to light in Pakistan. Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, the former interim Prime Minister of the country and former so-called Prime Minister of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), was fired upon by unknown assailants. He was seriously injured in the attack and is currently in a critical condition in a hospital in Quetta. According to doctors, he is struggling between life and death. This incident of attack has happened at a time when Pakistan’s politics is already going through a period of instability. One former Prime Minister, Imran Khan, is already lodged in Adiala jail, while another former interim PM has been fatally attacked. So far no organization has claimed responsibility for the attack and investigation has been started.
Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar was made the interim Prime Minister by the Shehbaz Sharif government in February 2024 till the general elections. Before this, he had also been the alleged Prime Minister of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. He has often been in the headlines for his inflammatory and controversial anti-India statements. The biggest controversy was when Anwar-ul-Haq openly celebrated the terrorist blast near the Red Fort in Delhi and said that the attack was revenge for India’s alleged actions in Balochistan. Addressing a public meeting in PoK, he had said in a threatening tone, “If you keep bleeding Balochistan, we will kill India from the Red Fort to the forests of Kashmir. By the grace of Allah, we have done it and they have not been able to count the dead bodies yet.” His statement was considered an insult to the innocent civilians killed in the Delhi attack and India strongly condemned it. Now, there has been a fatal attack on the same Anwar-ul-Haq in his own country, which has created a new political turmoil in Pakistan.