ISLAMABAD (News Desk/Dunya News) – Former finance minister Senator Ishaq Dar on Monday described devaluation of rupee as the mother of all evils and called for a strong currency which was vital to the country’s interest.
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Dar, who is also the Leader of the House in Senate, said different mafias were operating in the country to manipulate the exchange rate, as he questioned the hoarding of US dollar, saying that the rupee devaluation was the basic reason triggering inflation in Pakistan.
He said devaluation was reason behind the economic destruction Pakistan had been facing. The 16-month government stint of the coalition partners wasn’t just about economy, Dar said, adding that world powers wanted to see Pakistan default at that time.
Speaking in Senate, the PML-N senior leader said only a strong currency could lead to the country’s development and recalled that the rupee was stable in 2017 – the year which saw the removal of three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his economic team from office.
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Recalling the past achievements of Nawaz as the prime minister, the senator said the nuclear tests carried out by the then leadership in 1998 secured Pakistan and forced his counterpart in India Atal Bihari Vajpayee to visit Pakistan for signing the Lahore Declaration.
It was mentioned in the historic document, he added, that the two countries would solve all problems, including the Kashmir dispute, through dialogue.
However, Dar regretted that the Kargil episode – which ultimately led to the removal of Nawaz government in 1999 by Pervez Musharraf – was designed after that only to sabotage all the progress made by Nawaz and Vajpayee through the Lahore Declaration.
He said the world powers were aiming at punishing them in 1990s for conducting nuclear tests as Nawaz had rejected the offer made by the then US president Bill Clinton to not to respond to the Indian move and accept $5 billion in exchange – a huge amount at that time while keeping the inflation and the devaluation in mind.