Senate Demands Ishaq Dar’s Resignation
The Senate has sought the resignation of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. Saleem Mandviwala, Chair of the Standing Committee on Finance also supported the Committee’s recommendation that “Finance Minister Ishaq Dar step down to save the country’s name from being defamed further…”
This discourse took place in the absence of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senators Ayesha Raza and Saud Majeed. Mandviwala also claimed that investors’ deteriorating interest in the country should be regarded as a grave concern and that he had received phone calls from Chinese investors asking whether arrest warrants had been issued against the Finance Minister.
Senator Mohshin Aziz of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Senator Fateh Mohammad Hassani of the Pakistan Peoples Party were both in favor of the Minister resigning from his position. Both suggested that Dar took into notice the defamation that the system was receiving on account of his actions. Hassani added that it was up to the Committee to take a bold decision to protect the system and the image of the country from being affected by the actions of the Finance Minister.
The only opposing view came from Senator Ilyas Bilour of the Awami National Party who said that the Committee should wait it out and not take any decision in haste. However, he too changed his stance with the progression of the meeting.
Senator Mandviwala concluded by saying that Mr Dar was “our colleague and senior to us – as a friend, we must advise him to resign, instead of bringing a bad name to the country and the Finance Ministry”.
