Staff Reporter Islamabad
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday said that the future of the nation cannot be put at stake for the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“It was due to the performance of the previous governments that we had to go to the IMF,” the minister said while speaking on a private TV channel programme.
“[Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz are responsible for pushing the country towards a [deal with the] IMF,” he added.
“Now, we have taken measures [to overcome the situation]”, Qureshi maintained.
“It isn’t the right thing to say that whatever IMF says is right. It isn’t possible to accept every demand of the fund as it is,” he remarked.
The minister admitted that the government took difficult measures during the first three years of its rule, which burdened the masses and added that the country needs to pay attention to its economic development.
The minister blamed the PML-N for the tough conditions set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
“When PTI [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ] came to power, Pakistan had already gone into the [FAFT] grey list,” he added.
He further said that Pakistan has fulfilled 27 conditions of the FATF and now, there are no grounds to keep Pakistan into the grey list. “Nations face pressures and we should bear this pressure [as well],” he concluded.
