ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Sunday demanded of the government to constitute a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to look into Tariq Bajwa’s resignation from the position of governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Speaking at a news conference, the party’s deputy information secretary Pulwasha Khan alleged that Mr Bajwa had raised serious questions about money laundering and pointed out that 18 personalities close to Prime Minister Imran Khan were involved in it.
“That is why the governor of SBP was removed. A JIT should be constituted to investigate those allegations,” she said.
Ms Khan said that steps were being taken deliberately so that external forces could interfere in the affairs of Pakistan.
“The prime minister even remains unaware of attacks on Pakistan’s borders and other developments within the country. That is why the premier was received by a ‘sanitation officer’ when he went to China.
“On the other hand, no leader was ready to meet our prime minister when he was attending an international forum in China, as the dignitaries feared he would seek aid from them,” she claimed.
The PPP’s deputy information secretary said the premier was becoming an “embarrassment” for the country.
The party’s secretary general, Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, said that an unprecedented price hike was badly affecting the lives of people during the rule of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).
He said the PPP had scheduled protests on the issue on May 3 and May 4, but the Punjab government arrested the party’s president for Lodhran as well as other party workers.
He called for their immediate release and withdrawal of the cases registered against them.
While responding to a question, Mr Bukhari said the PPP accepted the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) offered by Gen Pervez Musharraf because the party wanted to get rid of him and claimed that otherwise he would be president of Pakistan even today.
“It is wishful thinking on the part of the PTI that it can give an NRO to any political party or personality. I have never seen such an incompetent government,” he said.
Meanwhile, Senator Mian Raza Rabbani criticised the appointment of an employee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the SBP governor.
In a statement, the former Senate chairman said: “This amounts to colonisation of Pakistan by the international financial imperialists. The governor (of) the SBP (is also) an employee of the Fund, which is giving a bailout package to the country. This is a case involving conflict of interest; it is obvious that his loyalties will not be with Pakistan.”
Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2019
