[🇵🇰] The eternal return of Mr Dar

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Source : https://www.brecorder.com/news

Dar for waging joint efforts to overcome economic challenges​

Recorder Report
February 24, 2024

LAHORE: Emphasising the need for waging collective efforts to overcome the economic challenges, former finance minister and the PML-N senior leader Senator Ishaq Dar expressed optimism that Pakistan would overcome the challenges.

Talking to the media outside the Punjab Assembly, Dar said that the PML-N was determined to eradicate poverty and unemployment in the country.

“It was a real challenge for the PML-N to resolve the problems of the people and the party, under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif, would bring ease in the lives of the people,” he said.

When asked about the reports of writing a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by the PTI leader (Imran Khan), Dar said that the step aimed at personal gains would be against the country’s economic interests, hence, condemnable. However, he remarked that if a letter were written to the IMF, it would have no standing.

When asked about Nawaz Sharif’s disappearance from the political scene, Dar said that the party supremo was very much in the political scene and he would continue to guide the party on federal and provincial matters.

When asked who would be the next federal finance minister, the PML-N leader said that the party leadership would decide and he made it clear that he had no lust for power but pledged to play his role to steer the country out of the crisis.

Regarding the delay in the commencement of the Punjab Assembly session, he said that the role of the Speaker was only to take oath in the first session.

He added that the Election Commission would have some legal reasons for not announcing the reserved seats for the Sunni Ittehad Council, which the PTI-backed independent candidates have joined.

While highlighting the PML-N’s government achievements in 2017, he said that Pakistan was the 27th largest economy globally, with a mere 4 percent inflation rate and a 6 percent GDP growth. The foreign exchange reserves were at their peak and Pakistan ranked 5th in the stock market at that time, he added.

Meanwhile, PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz, who is also the party’s candidate for the Punjab chief minister’s role, chaired the party’s parliamentary meeting before the Punjab Assembly session.

She expressed the hope for a new era of ‘serving’ the people. She expressed firm resolve to serve the masses.

Moreover, PML-N leader Attaullah Tarar told media that they have 160 general seats in the Punjab Assembly, and with the inclusion of the reserved seats, they have 210 members in the House. “Our agenda was good governance and giving relief to the masses,” he added.

The PML-N’s provincial legislator Uzma Bukhari also assailed the PTI for objecting to a session of the Punjab Assembly. She told the media that the PTI merged with the Sunni Ittehad Council 15 days after the elections and submitted its list of reserved seats when others had already submitted their lists. “If you were incompetent to the extent that you could not fulfil your responsibilities, then you cannot question me (about it),” she said.

“If the ECP does not decide for 20 days, will there be no session of the House for 20 days,” she asked.

On the other hand, Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan told media before the start of the session that he would make sure that all newly elected lawmakers who have arrived at the Assembly were allowed to attend the session.

On the matter of a few MPA-elects allegedly being prevented from entering the Assembly, Sibtain said, “I will go and check that if any of our MPAs were standing outside (the Punjab Assembly), I will make sure that they enter the House.”

Sibtain said, “In Friday’s session, an oath will be administered to the elected assembly members and the elections for the speaker and deputy speaker will be held on Saturday (today).”

Regarding a few reserved seats not being notified so far, Sibtain said he would check all the relevant notifications issued by the Election Commission, adding that the ECP might have listed them as pending.

The PTI-backed candidates elected to the Punjab Assembly also chanted slogans in favour of their party leader and former Prime Minister Imran Khan outside the Assembly. They chanted the slogans “Who will save Pakistan: Imran Khan, Imran Khan.”

Stringent security measures were adopted outside the Punjab Assembly and entry towards the Assembly Secretariat was also restricted.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024

 

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[H3]The irreplaceable Samdhi Dar[/H3]

Shahab Jafry
April 4, 2024

To understand why the foreign minister replaced the finance minister at the CCI (Council of Common Interests) you only have to understand why Ishaq Dar was made foreign minister in the first place. He never impressed anybody in any of his stints as finance minister. And his only claim to fame – keeping the rupee at around a hundred to the dollar – was not just none of the finance minister's business, since the money market was always the central bank's domain, it was also a singular failure because it was a ridiculous policy to think of, much less implement, when the trade balance was in red.

Yet he still got to do it a good two or three times. That alone tells you a lot about the people that are in charge of this Islamic Republic one more time. In fact, the last time he returned as finance minister, after poor Miftah was so unceremoniously thrown under the bus despite doing a much better job than his predecessor and definitely his successor, the market actually cheered as if ending the free float and compromising the EFF (Extended Fund Facility) was just what the country needed. Nothing could be farther from the truth, as Mr Market also realised in due time.

This time, though, either the establishment or coalition partners – most likely the establishment – simply refused the finance ministry for Dar, therefore Samdhi ji was accommodated at the foreign ministry. And if you think it's absurd that PML-N let an unsuccessful accountant and incompetent former finance minister run the foreign ministry, how absurd do you think it is that the establishment – or whoever – didn't let him near the finance ministry, because of his track record, but was OK with him at the foreign ministry?

But what about poor Muhammad Aurangzeb? One day the brilliant banker was the toast of the town, the man whose vision and skill set would save the country from default, restore growth, and all that. And the next he was shoved out of the CCI and CCoP (Cabinet Committee on Privatisation) to make way for Samdhi Dar.

These are early days, but Aurangzeb is clearly still more banker than politician, or he'd already be talking about his feelings. Yet you don't really need to hear him say it out loud; that the way he's being tossed out of key committees must make him feel that he was not approached for this position, but that he somehow weaseled his way into the ministry.

There's already chatter that PML-N is so used to Ishaq Dar as finance minister that it is willing to upset the whole apple cart, even this late in the game, and restore him there; no matter what the establishment or coalition partners have to say about it.

You might think that that stretches common sense just a little bit. But then you ask yourself what a foreign minister is doing heading the CCoP and CCI, and what Ishaq Dar can possibly bring to the foreign ministry, and you have your answer.

Over the years, I've seen some finance ministers come and go from the vantage point of the newsroom. And I felt this one's days were numbered because he got off on the wrong foot; bringing his Wharton no-nonsense, clinical thinking to government and boasting about taxing the never-taxed holy cows of this land. That claim and his own boss slowly clipping his wings is as clear as two-plus-two and/or black-and-white for the lower-middle class that is not powerful enough to dodge the taxman in this country.

A serious finance minister that must negotiate a make-or-break bailout programme with the IMF yet is without voice in the CCI — the constitutional forum for matters and disputes related to the federation and provinces – as well as the CCoP – when the programme will hinge on privatisation of loss-making SOEs (State Owned Enterprises) — is as good as a banker floating his resume for a new job.