ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Wednesday that the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) was not possible by the Nov 13 deadline given by the Supreme Court to the government.

“This is not possible by tomorrow. This is very clear,” he said while addressing a news conference.

The minister, who is also head of the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms, said it appeared that a week or 10 days more would be required to complete the process of CEC’s appointment.

He said the leaders of the house and opposition in the National Assembly had held consultations and tried earnestly to complete the process by Nov 13. He said before going abroad the prime minister had authorised him (Mr Dar) to remain in touch with the Leader of Opposition Khursheed Shah.

He said he was constantly in touch with Mr Shah who also had to go abroad for medical reasons. He said the law required the government and the opposition to forward three names each to the parliamentary committee on appointment of CEC but both sides were trying to forward less than six names by suggesting some common names as well.

Mr Dar said he had checked with the legal side and even if a few more days were required it was hoped that only one list of nominees by the two sides would be forwarded to the parliamentary committee.

The minister also broke silence over the allegation repeatedly made by PTI Chairman Imran Khan that Mr Dar had confirmed under oath that he had done money-laundering for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. “This (allegation) is all trash and in violation of the Economic Reforms Act and thrown out by the courts,” he said.

He said he knew many things which if exposed would not leave Mr Khan to show his face in public, but it was not appropriate to indulge in personal attacks.

Responding to a question about allegations that the government had paid Rs2 billion to Dr Tahirul Qadri to end his sit-in, Mr Dar said he categorically denied the allegation, adding that the exchequer was trust of the people and as long as he was the finance minister not a single penny could be paid for such things. “We have neither paid two paisa for this nor would pay in future”.

Responding to a question, he said Imran Khan was again trying to confuse people with his lies and clarified that as head of the negotiating team he had never even hinted at involvement of representatives of intelligence agencies in the judicial commission. “I am a parliamentarian for 25 years, a law student and aware of rules and laws, how can I agree to involve anybody in the commission of senior most judges in the country”.

ECONOMY: The finance minister said the government and the International Monetary Fund successfully completed two reviews of the programme that would enable disbursement of $1.1bn, most probably on Dec 17.

He said three major slippages on the programme regarding net domestic assets, net international reserves and government borrowing were caused by $2.5bn worth of transactions delayed by the sit-ins in Islamabad. This included Sukuk bond, OGDCL divestment and IMF tranche of $550 million that were earlier scheduled between August and September. This also shattered the investor confidence.

Mr Dar said the foundation of the economy was quite strong and the government would have to make extra efforts to make up for the losses caused by the sit-ins so as to achieve $15bn reserves by December end, enabling the country to start business with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development window of the World Bank.

He said Pakistan was aiming at 5.1 per cent economic growth this year against IMF’s projection of 4.3pc. The FBR had collected 14.3pc higher revenue in the first four months of the current financial year, while remittance had gone up to $6.065bn as of Oct 31.

Exports, he said, were down by 5.2pc in the first three months of the current financial year, while imports had grown by 11.6pc. Inflation was down to 7.1pc against 8.3pc of last year and in fact it had fallen below 5.8pc in October.

The minister said the government borrowing from the State Bank in the first four months of the current financial year was Rs104bn compared to Rs585bn last year.

Responding to a question on gas prices, he said the government did not want to burden domestic consumers with higher utility prices. He, however, said the attorney general of Pakistan was working hard to convince the courts about the executive powers for imposition of gas infrastructure development cess that was imposed by the previous government and for which Rs146bn had been projected in the current federal budget.

Responding to a question, he said important vacant posts in regulators and public sector enterprises could not be filled because of court cases but the selection process had been completed as allowed by the court and fresh inductions would be notified as soon as the court so permitted.

Published in Dawn, November 13th , 2014