Shahid Khaqan Abbasi best choice for PM’s slot: Miftah Ismail

ISLAMABAD: Former finance minister and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Miftah Ismail said on Tuesday that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is the best choice for prime minister’s slot, ARY News reported.

While talking to the ARY News programme ‘Off The Record’, Miftah Ismail said that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is the best choice for the next prime minister as he has the quality to take the opposition with him.

Ismail said that stakeholders should seriously review the crisis situation in the country. He criticised that the incumbent government is repeating the same mistakes for which it was slamming the previous government as the opposition.

The former finance minister said that nobody is worried about the country but a fight for power is going on. He added that attempts had been made to eliminate Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and PML-N from the political landscape but they failed.

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He said that many PML-N leaders are unhappy over the current status of the country. Miftah Ismail expressed hopes for a Pakistan-IMF deal in the coming days which would improve the economic situation besides ending the default risk.

He claimed that Pakistan acquired loans thrice from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in two years but the agreement was not implemented. He, however, admitted that the IMF is the only solution to end the economic crisis.

Earlier, Ismail reiterated that Pakistan is still facing the default risk and cruciality of reviving the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme.

While talking to the ARY News programme ‘Khabar’, Miftah Ismail said that the revival of the IMF loan programme is the only solution to prevent Pakistan from facing default. He said that the national economy can only survive two to four months but it is inevitable to reach out to the IMF.

The former finance minister said that the government’s strategy is completed failed to revive the IMF programme in eight months. “The finance ministry is just making tall claims for the past six months but the IMF [staff-level] agreement is not signed yet despite implementing all conditions.”

Miftah Ismail further said that Pakistan cannot escape from facing default without the IMF loan.