Charting through uncertainty

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has begun his second term in office on a note of defiance. He successfully resisted the pressure and did not appoint family relative and party’s old economic guard Ishaq Dar as the new finance minister. Shehbaz Sharif has drawn the curtain on Ishaq Dar’s over quarter a century old claim on being the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s only choice for the position. Dar became the finance minister in extraordinary circumstances 26 years ago and his exit from the Q Block was not ordinary too. In between, he remained the finance minister for four times but his last leg was highly controversial, which resulted in the loss of many friends and sympathisers. The distrust between Shehbaz Sharif and Ishaq Dar began to widen during the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government after the former became aware that his economic team was not being truthful and was misleading regarding the conditions of the International Monetary Fund programme. The trust deficit widened to a level that the prime minister had to take hold of the reins and directly negotiate with the IMF, sideling Dar and people close to him during final round of negotiations for the Stand By Arrangement in June 2023.