By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Ishaq Dar, the former and believed by some to be the de facto finance minister is said to be coming home in July 2022 to first win a court battle and then join the federal cabinet to replace Miftah Ismail, the incumbent economic executive, it is learnt.
Dar, a four-time federal minister of finance 1998 and 2017, has been in a self-imposed exile in the UK since November 2017 after an accountability court declared him a proclaimed offender in assets beyond means case.
The sources close to Dar confirmed to Independent Pakistan on Monday night that his return to Pakistan was strongly on cards most probably in the third week of July 2022.
Dar also confimed IP his plan to return back to Pakistan after mid July 2022. “After mid July Inshallah I am planning to return back to Pakistan,” said said in a brief replay.
The government renewed his passport in April 2022 and he obtained it in early May 2022. The PTI-led regime had canceled his passport in 2018 in a way that its renewal was impossible.
Owing to health concerns, Dar will have to consult his doctor for precautionary measures because boarding a flight for his return to Pakistan.
He will also have to clear the legal hurdles standing in his way.
The PMLN stalwart has directed his counsels to move the higher courts for the revocation of his proclaimed offender (PO) status and obtain a protective bail.
Dar would return home after all these challenges are overcome, according to sources.
Earlier this year, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) restored Dar’s senatorship.
Dar is considered a head of the core economic team of PMLN. It is expected that he will be sworn in as minister for finance after taking oath as Senator. However, Miftah Ismail, the current Minister for Finance may also be given the charge of any other ministry but his exact portfolio has not yet been decided.
It must be noted that Ismail is not a member of the parliament and his appointment was made under Section 9 of Article 91 of the Constitution, which pertains to making any non-elected person a member of the cabinet.
It is not yet known how the IMF is going to respond to this possible change of guard at the Ministry of Finance.
Dar has a massive experience of negotiating with the donors. It was he, who had steered the economy out of crisis mode in the aftermath of the nuclear tests in May 1998 and then in 2013-17 when the country’s economy was down in the dumps.
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