Pakistan Names Interim PM

Pakistan on Monday appointed former chief justice Nasir Ul Mulk as interim prime minister until general elections are held on July 25, premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said. “No Pakistani can lift a finger [against] such a name,” Abbasi told reporters, seated next to opposition leader Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah, Reuters reported. The announcement ends weeks of wrangling between Abbasi’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Shah’s Pakistan People’s Party. Mulk, who also served as the interim chief of the Election Commission of Pakistan, will head a technocratic government until elections as the current government and parliament will be dissolved on Thursday. The interim administration usually does not make any major decisions until the new government is elected, though it may be forced to act to shore up the economy amid a worsening macro-economic outlook.