Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday came down hard on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for appointing Dr Reza Baqir, who was previously an employee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
“How can IMF negotiate with IMF?” he remarked while talking to reporters here outside the Parliament House. “He [Baqir] was working with the IMF before taking over as SBP governor. No matter how good or bad he is, there will always be doubts over whether or not the decisions he makes are those of the IMF,” he added.
Bilawal said the government has offered no explanation for the sudden changes at the finance ministry. “Nobody knows why these changes have been made. The prime minister didn’t even meet Dr Hafeez Shaikh before appointing him,” he remarked. “All of a sudden [after Shaikh’s appointment], SBP and FBR heads were shown the door. The person appointed as SBP governor was previously receiving his salary from the IMF,” he added.
Bilawal maintained that the government is acting on the whims of the IMF. “The government should tell us who’s making these decisions,” he demanded, and warned that his party will vehemently oppose the IMF deal if the government went ahead with it before discussing it in the parliament. “There will be protests in and outside the parliament,” he warned.
Bilawal admitted that his party too had sought a deal from the IMF but insisted that PPP never compromised on Pakistan’s financial rights. He said that the PPP had started a ‘revolutionary programme’ – the Benazir Income Support Programme – which created jobs, and raised salaries and pensions of the government employees.
He criticised the government for ‘usurping’ the rights of labour unions and warned that if the government fails to improve the economic situation of the country, opposition will be forced to launch a protest campaign.
Bilawal said the government has completely succumbed to the IMF’s demands. “The current rulers are in a state of confusion and making the lives of citizens difficult by their poor handling of economic affairs,” he said, and added that political instability in the country has led to economic instability.
Taking a jibe at PTI government for being unable to meet its revenue generation target, Bilawal offered that the task should be handed over to the PPP’s Sindh government which has accomplished the goal.
In response to a question regarding PML-N’s decision to change the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman, Bilawal said the PPP has not been taken into confidence over the matter. “They [PML-N] might not have had a chance,” he said. “But one of their members has said in the assembly that the decision is not final,” he added.
Bilawal said it had been decided in the Charter of Democracy that the opposition leader will also be chairman of the PAC so that the accountability process is transparent. He insisted that the practice should be upheld.
Separately, PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari also described Baqir’s appointment as a ‘major mistake’.
“You can’t have an IMF man managing your house even if he is a Pakistani,” he said while speaking to reporters outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC) where he arrived in connection with his petition seeking pre-arrest bail in a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference against him. On Prime Minister Imran Khan repeatedly saying that the government will not grant an NRO to the opposition, Zardari said he is not sure what the prime minister is talking about. “Maybe he will not grant himself an NRO,” he responded to a query.