Caretaker Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi on Friday confirmed that Pakistan was on the agenda of the International Monetary Fund executive board next month.
The minister was commenting on a report published by Bloomberg, stating that the IMF board will meet on January 11 to consider final approval to disburse the next $700 million tranche from its current loan programme.
It was earlier reported that Pakistan’s case was absent from the board’s agenda.
Addressing a press conference at the Quetta, Solangi said that the caretaker government has taken several initiatives to improve the declining economy of the country.
He said that the rupee appreciated against the dollar and the Pakistan Stock Exchange broke all records by reaching 66,000 points today. “This reflects our commitment and reforms in the economic sector,” the minister mentioned.
Balochistan Caretaker Information Minister Jan Achakzai and President QPC Khaliq Rind were also present on the occasion.
The minister reiterated that the country was all set to hold general elections on February 8, 2024. “No excuses… we are ready to hold fair and transparent elections as per the Constitution of Pakistan, Solangi stated. He said that the caretaker government would provide all financial and administrative support to the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold fair and transparent elections in the country. “We would hand over comparatively better government to the next administration after polls”, he maintained.
Solangi said former prime minister Imran Khan’s statement about the expulsion of Afghan refugees was aimed at “garnering the sympathy” of the interim Afghan government.
Responding to a question about the former premier’s statement during a press conference, Solangi said: “It seems to me, that an attempt is being made to create an environment to garner the sympathy of Afghanistan’s government […] and indirectly, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan members sent by them and create such an atmosphere in the next elections that his party gains an advantage in a way over other political parties.” The information minister said if this was so, then it would be most “unfortunate because the need is that all parties have equal security and opportunity in the elections”. Solangi said it was necessary to ask the PTI chief and his aides under which agreement or without asking the Parliament, “thousands of TTP terrorists” were allowed to resettle in Pakistan before the end of the PTI government’s term. The information minister also questioned the legitimacy of Imran’s post, saying that the facility to post on social media about anything was not being provided to the PTI chief. He asked whether the statement had indeed been posted by him. “If this really is his opinion, I wish that he had also spoken about the difficulties of 250m Pakistanis instead of trying to represent the illegal Afghans in Pakistan,” he said.
Solangi said the accusation in Imran’s post regarding the forced expulsion of Afghan refugees was “baseless”, saying that the majority of the 500,000 that left were not “shoved out” and had left willingly while only a few thousand were forcefully expelled.
He added that there may have been one or two instances of injustice in the exercise but the provincial and federal governments would take notice and investigate them.
Solangi said the government would be mindful and ensure that humanitarian norms were considered during the deportation exercise.
