By Muhammad Luqman
Pakistan’s Finance Minister Asad Umar has announced to step down from his office, saying that the next economic manager will have to make some “difficult decisions” to stabilise the economy.
Umar before making formal announcement at a press conference in the capital Islamabad on Thursday, had tweeted that he has obtained the prime minister’s consent “to not take any cabinet position” days after reports of a reshuffle in the cabinet were rubbished by the Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry.
“As part of a cabinet reshuffle, [the] prime minister desired that I take the energy minister portfolio instead of finance,” he said. “However, I have obtained his consent to not take any cabinet position.”
Umar ended his tweet by saying: “I strongly believe @ImranKhanPTI is the best hope for Pakistan and inshAllah will make a naya Pakistan.”
Later , during the press conference, Asad Umar, said he was asked to take the energy portfolio following a reshuffle in the cabinet.
“I met the prime minister this morning and convinced him that I did not want to take any portfolio,” he said.
“This does not mean that I am not available to forward PTI’s vision for ‘Naya Pakistan’. I am and will always be available to forward the interests of this country.”
In response to a question about the earlier reports of reshuffling in the cabinet, he said: “I was first told [about this portfolio change] last night.”
“I think, as per my discussion with the prime minister, other changes [in the cabinet] will be announced either tonight or tomorrow morning.”
“It was on exactly this date in 2012, when newspapers had announced that I was joining the PTI. Today seven years later, I am giving you this news.
“It has been a wonderful journey of seven years and I will continue this journey.
“I need to thank the PTI’s youth for their enthusiasm. I need to say that when we came in, the economy was in a dangerous and sorry state, we were standing near a ditch, one move and we would have been in the ditch. The state of the economy is still not great [and] the next finance minister that comes in will still have a hard time.
“What I want is that whoever comes in is supported when they make difficult decisions for the sake of the nation,” Asad Umar told newsmen.
“I believe that this decision [appointment of finance minister] should be made as soon as possible […] we are about to go to the IMF (International Monetary Fund), we are about to present the budget. This is already too late, the next person should have come in earlier, at least a month ago.”
“I came into politics so that I could do something for the betterment of the country. I don’t know if there has been a conspiracy or not [to remove me] but all I know is that my ‘captain’ wanted to see me in the role of the energy minister. I did not think that would be a great idea so I refused.
“We have finalised the IMF agreement on much better terms than before. It is the time to take difficult decisions; I have made these decisions, I refused to take the decisions that would have crushed the nation.”
Defending his performance amid a wave of criticism over the government’s handling of a financial crisis that has sent prices soaring, he said: “Who says that I have failed in achieving what I wanted to achieve? I had left my job to join the party [PTI] when we weren’t even in the parliament, let alone in the opposition. Look at how far we have come from that. I am not letting PTI go, I truly believe that ‘Naya Pakistan’ will become a reality.
“The new team will come and it will look at things with fresh eyes, maybe they will come up with better decisions and either way, they will need to be given time.
“This is not a decision made in protest. When I had joined the party, we were sitting at Khan sahab’s sister’s place, and I had told him that ‘there is nothing you have that you can offer to me in return for doing this, so I am a person who is going to think and act freely.’
“The new person that comes in may have a different approach, but they will have to work on the same five-six points [to improve the economy]. There are three main deficits that need to be fixed in order to fix the economy.”
Answering another question, he said: “The amnesty scheme has nothing to do with my leaving the post.”
