Dar links cancellation of US trip to political turmoil
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday said he had cancelled his trip to Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank on the prime minister’s orders, due to the political turmoil in Pakistan. However, he assured the nation that the IMF deal was on track and the government had already done all that was required from it to conclude the ninth review of the loan programme. “These are routine rituals. However, a constitutional crisis has been created in Pakistan,” Mr Dar said in a televised address. He said the crisis had been compounded by the April 4 Supreme Court order striking down the government’s plans to delay elections to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies. Rejected reports linking the cancelled trip to a holdup in Pakistan’s IMF bailout programme, he said that a “constitutional crisis” was created by the Supreme Court, which has demanded that the government provide Rs21 billion to the Election Commission by April 10 to conduct the polls.