Former Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin has been booked in a sedition case by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for allegedly sabotaging negotiations between Pakistan and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader landed in the center of controversy in August last year when telephonic conversations between him and two provincial finance ministers surfaced. A voice, allegedly Tarin’s, was heard telling Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) finance minister Taimur Jhagra and Punjab finance minister Mohsin Leghari, both of the PTI, to tell the coalition government in the centre and the IMF that they would not be able to commit to a provincial budget surplus in light of the monsoon floods.
The leaked audio came to light when the international lender’s executive board was scheduled to consider Pakistan’s request of releasing the $1.2 billion tranche under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
On Monday, the coalition government also allowed the FIA to arrest the former finance minister after the agency sought the interior ministry’s nod to detain him.
PTI lawmakers protested in Senate against the possible arrest of Tarin on the same day.
Interestingly, senior leader of arch-rivals Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, lent support to Tarin, stating that there should be a trial and he shouldn’t be arrested.
He pointed out that many arrests took place when Imran Khan was PM and that now the incumbent government shouldn’t follow in his footsteps.
