Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister is Ishaq Dar

Ishaq Dar, Pakistan’s foreign minister, was unexpectedly named the nation’s deputy prime minister on Sunday.

Dar, 73, is a senior politician and chartered accountant who is a member of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the political party of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The Cabinet Division said that PM Sharif has made the appointment “with immediate effect and until further orders.”

While PM Sharif and Foreign Minister Dar were in Saudi Arabia for a World Economic Forum moot, the news was made. Because of the marriage ties between the two families—his son is the older Sharif’s son-in-law—Dar is seen as close to former PM Nawaz Sharif.