Finance Minister Ishaq Dar not resigning, confirms PM's spokesman
Musadik Malik said no one will replace Ishaq Dar as finance minister.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Finance Minister Ishaq Dar will not resign from the office and continue to hold the office, PM s spokesman Musadik Malik confirmed on Saturday.
Clearing the air of rumours that had spread in the recent days, Malik refuted the claims saying no one will be replaced as finance minister till Dar continued to hold the office. “He (Dar) is looking after daily matters and there has been no delay in policy-making related to the Ministry of Finance in his time,” he added.
The Special Assistant to the PM for Media Affairs further told that PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is keeping track of matters of the ministry. Calling all reports baseless, he said Dar never submitted his resignation. State Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb also affirmed in her media talk that Ishaq Dar has not resigned. The finance minister will face all the charges that have been levelled him in the NAB references, she commented.
It was earlier disclosed by Dunya News President Kamran Khan that PM Abbasi had requested Dar twice to resign, but the minister refused to do so by saying that it is not the proper time. Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif had also made a similar request to the finance minister as he thought that the country required a more energetic and skillful team.
Kamran Khan further added that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif does not want to pressurise Dar for resignation as he is a senior party leader who wishes to face all cases while in the office. Sources claimed that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is in a lot of pressure at the moment due to these circumstances. The ultimate decision regarding Dar’s resignation will be taken by Nawaz Sharif, Khan told.
Earlier, it was rumoured that Ishaq Dar had decided to resign owing to bad health. Dar, who is in London for heart treatment, had been indicted by an accountability court for holding assets beyond known source of income in a reference that was filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the directions of the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan in the high profile Panama Papers case.
Furthermore, non-bailable arrest warrants had been issued against the minister for continuously failing to appear before the court. The NAB had requested the Interior Ministry to put Ishaq Dar’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL). The minister is likely to return to Pakistan in December.
