ISLAMABAD: Conflicting statements made by two federal ministers on loan waivers has landed the government in embarrassment.
In the PDF meetings, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh made contradictory statements exposing to foreign participants that the Pakistani government had not worked out its strategy.
On Sunday, Malik asked the world to write off loans worth $50 billion to help Pakistan move ahead with the war on terror, whereas on the second, Shaikh argued Pakistan’s debt cancellation would have grave consequences for the country.
“Debt write-off has not one dimensional aspect, it is a serious issue with great consequences,” he said, adding that the cancellation of loans would also affect raising capital from financial markets.
Earlier, the Senate of which both Malik and Shaikh are a part, had passed a unanimous resolution for the country’s debt cancellation.
