WEB DESK
An alleged ploy to harm the country’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) came to light on Monday when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Shaukat Tarin’s phone call to Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa finance ministers were made public.
During the phone call, former finance minister Tarin can be heard directing Mohsin Leghari and Taimur Jhagra to backtrack from the commitment of a provincial surplus given to the IMF.
He tells Punjab’s financial czar to prepare a letter along the aforementioned lines and cite the prevailing flood emergency as the reason “for not being able to honor the commitment.”
Tarin also mentions that he has also given the same instructions to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Finance Minister Taimur Jhagra. “Taimur said he knows the second-top most person at the IMF in Pakistan.”
The PTI leader further said, “That’s all we want so that the incumbent government can be pressurized,” adding that “they should be taught a lesson for creating hardships for Imran Khan.”
When Leghari questioned if the state would suffer when the IMF deal is sabotaged, Tarin said, “Isn’t the state suffering because of the way they treat your chairman (Imran Khan).”
