ISLAMABAD -- Pakistani President Arif Alvi on Saturday approved the appointment of Senator Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar as the caretaker prime minister, said a statement from the President House Media Wing.

The president has given the approval in terms of Article 224(1A) of the Constitution of Pakistan, according to the statement.

Earlier, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, after detailed consultations with the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, or the lower house of the parliament, Raja Riaz, forwarded a summary to this effect to the president for approval, according to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said.

Kakar has been a member of the Senate of Pakistan since March 2018. He was elected to the Senate of Pakistan as an independent candidate in the general seat from the southwest Balochistan province in the 2018 Pakistani Senate election.