ISLAMABAD: No political leader or martial law can improve the system in Pakistan until we make systemic changes, former finance minister Miftah Ismail said as he assessed the dynamics of the country belonging to 220 million people.
As the nation continues its struggle to find a way forward, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader — in an exclusive interview to a local TV — highlights the problems faced by Pakistanis, identifies where these problems lie, and suggests some possible solutions to manage the situation.
He believes that whether Pakistanis have Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, his party supremo Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari or martial law, nothing will improve the system until “we make systemic changes”.
Miftah, who served as the finance minister under the current coalition government for just over five months, has been quite vocal about certain party decisions and especially the policies of the incumbent Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
Since the former finance czar was “fired” in September as the top leadership of PML-N wanted to bring Dar, Miftah has not been a part of the government’s economic team and spearheading the “Reimagining Pakistan” campaign along with other political leaders in an effort to develop a consensus on the strategy to steer the country out of crises.
During his tenure at the Q Block, Miftah Ismail, a PhD in economics from Wharton School, took some important and tough decisions that convinced the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to release nearly $2 billion which were pending due to the suspended bailout programme signed in 2019 by the PTI government. He was appreciated for his hard work by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in reviving the much-needed loan programme.
“After I left, I had decided that I will not participate in electoral politics,” Miftah said in response to a question regarding his political future.
The PML-N stalwart also confirmed that he wasn’t in contact with the incumbent government.
Shedding light on the problems on the political front, Miftah said Pakistan has seen many leaders “we have seen martial laws, hybrid regimes, Imran Khan, Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif but one thing that we have not seen is a real improvement in peoples lives.”
