Floods in Pakistan: Imran Khan asks Miftah to demand relief from IMF

JHELUM: Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Saturday asked Finance Minister Miftah Ismail to reach out to International Monetary Fund (IMF) and demand relief from the global lender in the testing times as floods have rendered losses to Pakistan, ARY News reported.

Addressing participants of Jhelum power show, the former prime minister lashed out at Miftah Ismail for targeting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Minister Taimur Jhagra over IMF deal.

The PTI chief’s response comes after the finance minister lashed out at Taimur Khan Jhagra for “jeopardizing” the IMF programme ahead of its Executive Board meeting scheduled for Monday (August 29).

Addressing a press conference on late Friday, Miftah criticised the PTI leaders for putting the country at stake when it is already reeling from the devastations caused by flash floods and relentless rains.

Strongly reacting to Miftah’s statement, Imran Khan said, “Taimur Jhagra is demanding the right of the province and asking time for meeting with finance minister over the past two months.” Khan further said that Miftah refused met with Jhagra and now the former was wrongly accusing KP government of the Islamabad-IMF deal “jeopardy”.

“PTI govt took relief from IMF during Covid-19 pandemic. I would ask Ismail to show some courage and talk to IMF for relief during these testing times,” the PTI chief said.