Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif continues to face global embarrassment over appointing Ishaq Dar as the country’s Finance Minister as the Minister had fled Pakistan after an anti-corruption court in Pakistan indicted him in the Panama Papers case in 2017.
The Minister, who is a leading politician of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), was declared an absconder by a local court as he stayed put in the United Kingdom defying all the notices and summons from the agencies and courts for his appearance, Asian Lite reported.
A Pakistani court in September 2022 suspended the arrest warrant against Dar in order to facilitate his smooth return.
The appointment of Dar has received massive outrage globally as several people expressed angst on social media platforms over the appointment and implicit state support of corrupt practices in politics. He was mocked at Washington airport during his visit to the USA earlier this month for discussions with IMF.
Ishaq Dar also underwent similar treatment in a different setting in the UK where he was taken along by the immigration and border security officials for questioning, according to Asian Lite.
Notably, the South Asian country has slipped 16 places on Corruption Perception Index 2021 released by Transparency International earlier this year. Stakes are really high for the country, brushing aside its dismal rank of 140 out of 180 on the index!
Ishaq Dar replaced Miftah Ismail as the new Finance Minister of Pakistan and has time and again blamed Imran Khan’s party for the country’s poor economy.