Pakistan on Monday took a leap forward in the democratic transition process with the administration of oath to Justice (r) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso as the sixth caretaker PM to hold free and fair elections on May 11. President Asif Ali Zardari administered the oath to Mir Hazar Khan Khoso at a special ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr.

Apart from Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, the two former prime ministers, the Services Chiefs, several senior leaders from PPP, ANP and JUI-F, the National Assembly speaker, former parliamentarians, ministers and diplomats attended the ceremony.
The event started with national anthem and recitation from the holy Quran. Later, shortly after administration of oath, most of guests queued up and greeted the caretaker PM.

Caretaker Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso also had a one-on-one meeting with President Zardari and discussed matters of national interest.The meeting was held at the President House soon after President Zardari administered oath to the caretaker Prime Minister.
The caretaker PM then left the Presidency for his office in order to boost efforts to cobble up his cabinet at the earliest.

Khoso was accorded a warm welcome when he arrived at the PM House after taking the oath of his office. A contingent of the three services presented him salute. The national anthem was played and guard of honour presented to him at the Prime Minister’s House.
Later, the caretaker PM was introduced to the officers and staff of the PM House.

Mir Hazar Khan Khoso was born on September 30, 1929 in village Azam Khan, district Jaffarabad, Balochistan. He graduated from University of Sindh in 1954 and passed LLB from University of Karachi in 1956.He joined the legal profession in 1957 and enrolled as Advocate of High Court of West Pakistan Karachi Bench in 1959 and Advocate of Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1980.

He was elevated as Additional Judge of Balochistan High Court on 20th June 1977 to June 1979 and again elevated as Additional Judge on 31st March 1985.He was appointed as Permanent Judge of the Balochistan High Court on 31st March 1987 and appointed as Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court on 13th December 1989.

He also remained Acting Governor Balochistan from 25th June 1990 to 12th July 1990 and from 13th March 1991 to 13th July 1991.Justice Mir Hazar Khan Khoso retired as Chief Justice High Court of Balochistan on 29th September 1991.He was appointed Judge of Federal Shariat Court on October 18 1991 and elevated as Chief Justice of the Federal Shariat Court on 17th November 1992 and held his office up to July 8, 1994.

Among the last five caretaker prime ministers of Pakistan were Ghulam Mustafa Khan Jatoi from August 6, 1990 to November 6, 1990, Mir Balakh Sher Mazari from April 18, 1993 to May 26, 1993, Moin Qureshi from July 8, 1993 to October 19, 1993, Malik Meraj Khalid from October 6, 1996 to February 17, 1997 and Muhammad Mian Soomro from November 16, 2007 to March 24, 2008.