Rupee, inflation, interest rates top wily Dar’s agenda

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday said that the country is currently facing the worst economic crisis owing to the mismanagement of the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

Talking to reporters after he surrendered himself before Accountability Court in the assets beyond means case against him and others, he said that the PTI-led government has brought the country to such a pass, which in his opinion, no enemy country can do.

He further said that the PTI government violated the international agreements to take political mileage. No government could go as far as the PTI did, he said.

The finance minister said that our currency does not deserve to be there where it currently is. “I believe some speculators who had been playing the game have now stopped this game”, he said, adding that before I landed here, they had started going in a good direction.

Dar said that our second priority is to bring inflation and interest rates down. We will review the economy, he said.

To a question, he said that his party did not believe in a deal or any such arrangements. “From those who are saying that I returned to the country as a result of a deal ask why they cancelled my passport.”

'Times have changed now': Experts weigh in as Dar set to make comeback as finance minister

When he was asked that you said that for God’s sake let the country proceed, to whom you are giving this message, he said that he is giving this message to Imran Khan and his party.

To another question, he said his predecessor Miftah Ismail did everything he could to fix the economy. He said that it was because of the efforts of former finance minister Ismail that the country averted default. The mess of four years could not be cleared in six months, he said.

Dar said that he did not have a passport for four years during the PTI-led government. He claimed that the PTI after they came into power cancelled his passport which seemed its priority. The PTI-led government also put his name on the passport control list and later directed all embassies and high commissions to ensure that a passport is not issued to him, he said.

He said that he was issued a passport two months ago after the coalition government came into power and then he had planned his return to the country.

About the case against him, he said that it is fake. The actual case was that he had not filed tax returns from 1981 to 2001. He never delayed filing tax returns in his life, he said. He said that the ministers of the previous government used to make tall claims every day that they would bring Dar back to the country through Interpol within two months or three months. “But, it could not happen because I had submitted all the tax return proofs there and it was a big slap across the face of Imran Khan’s government. Interpol categorically said that they found nothing against Ishaq Dar”, he said.

Dar said that a false case was filed against him by the PTI government and his passport was cancelled. “The dramas like Panama Papers have taken back the country; therefore, for God’s sake let the country proceed,” he said.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and PML-N leader Tariq Fazal Chaudhry accompanied Dar.

Earlier, he appeared before Accountability Court-I judge Muhammad Bashir and surrendered himself before it. During the proceeding, the judge asked him where was he all this time. He replied that he was out of the country for medical treatment and despite ill health, he wanted to return to the country but the previous government cancelled his passport due to which he could not return. Now he has received a passport and he returned to the country, he said.

The court issued notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over the application of cancelling Dar’s arrest warrant and adjourned the hearing till October 7.

The court observed that the application will be heard along with the NAB’s assets reference.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022