ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance and Revenue Ishaq Dar on Thursday said that Pakistan would not compromise on its nuclear and missile programs for reviving the stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan deal.
“Let me assure you that nobody is going to compromise anything on the nuclear or the missile program of Pakistan — no way,” Dar said during the Senate’s session today.
Earlier, Senator Rabbani had raised some questions on the reasons behind the delay in the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which would offer a critical lifeline to tame a balance-of-payments crisis.
The PPP leader lamented that the Senate had “neither before nor today been taken into confidence on what are the conditionalities of the IMF”.
Response to a query raised by an honourable Senator as to the causes of delay in signing off the Staff Level Agreement with IMF during Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Senate of Pakistan???? pic.twitter.com/BMECbZNXUs
— Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) March 16, 2023
The finance minister said nobody has any right to dictate to “Pakistan what range of missiles and what nuclear weapons it can have; we have to have our own deterrence”.
Moreover, Dar revealed that the IMF is asking for the materialization of the commitments made by ‘friendly countries’ with Islamabad, which remains the “only delay” blocking the resumption of the stalled program.
“At the time of previous reviews, certain friendly countries have made commitments to bilaterally support Pakistan. But IMF is now asking that they should actually complete and materialize those commitments,” the finance minister told the Senate. “That’s the only delay.”
