Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Miftah Ismail has asserted that Ishaq Dar, his successor, waged campaigns against him for more than six months because he could not accept having someone else from the party serve as finance minister.
The former finance minister, while appearing on a YouTube podcast on Wednesday, said that Dar went on TV and claimed that he would bring the dollar rate to Rs160. He also claimed that the finance minister asked anchors to tweet against him and host TV programs.
The PML-N leader said Dar is closer to Nawaz Sharif because his son is married to Nawaz’s daughter and was with him in London. He added that Dar used to tell the PML-N supremo that he would bring the dollar rate and petroleum prices down.
Miftah stated that Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister, was pleased with his performance and did not wish to oust him. He claimed that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement was reinstated and that the risk of default was reduced during his administration.
Even while the PM had the right to fire him, the former finance minister said, the manner in which it was done was disrespectful. In front of 12 people, Nawaz Sharif called him in London and informed him that he was being replaced, according to Miftah.
On a question regarding Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, Miftah said that there is no doubt that Imran is a good politician, and no one is close to him when it comes to political strategy and narrative building.
However, he added that Imran lacks policy-making skills, adding that Imran wants to be the PM badly but does not know what to do after becoming the PM.
This is not the first time the two PML-N leaders have openly confronted each other. Dar and Miftah have been in a verbal war since Miftah took over as the finance minister in April.
Earlier in October, Miftah took a jab at Dar for slashing the petrol price by Rs12.63 per liter.
In a tweet, the former finance minister expressed his displeasure over the government’s decision not to increase the petroleum development levy (PDL) without IMF approval and termed it “reckless”.
