-Info Minister says PM decides to form new Financial team
-Further changes in the Cabinet expected to be disclosed today
-Bilawal terms Hafeez’s removal as victory of PDM
By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday decided to remove Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh from the post of finance minister and replace him with Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar, Senator Shibli Faraz confirmed.
According to Faraz, Prime Minister Imran Khan had decided to bring in a new finance team in view of “the inflation that had taken place”. Azhar is the third finance minister to be appointed since the PTI came to power in 2018.
Prime Minister Imran “gave the portfolio of finance to Hammad Azhar who is a young and able minister so that he devises policies according to the ground realities of Pakistan and the poor get relief”, said Faraz.
He said that he did not know about Sheikh’s future in the government, adding that further likely changes in the cabinet will be disclosed by today (Tuesday).
The move comes weeks after Hafeez Shaikh, who enjoyed the status of minister since December last year, lost the bid for a Senate seat to PPP’s Yousuf Raza Gilani, leading to questions about his status in the federal cabinet.
Shaikh, who is not a member of Parliament, was previously an adviser to the premier on finance and was appointed as finance minister in December last year. However, as per Article 91 (9) of the Constitution, he cannot remain a minister for more than six months until he is elected to one of the houses. Thus, it was necessary for him to be elected to the Senate this time around in order to continue as the finance minister after June.
Following his loss, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan had questioned how Sheikh could be in the office as an unelected member of the cabinet despite losing the Senate election.
“In truly democratic countries people voluntarily resign from the public offices if [they are] not elected,” the chief justice observed and added the establishment of the democracy warranted actions, not mere words.
“It seems Sheikh would hold his bag and just depart once the job is done,” he remarked. The CJ was hearing a petition challenging the appointment of all advisers and special assistants to Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Reacting to the development PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari termed the removal of Hafeez Shaikh as the finance minister as the victory of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).
In a message posted on Twitter, Bilawal Bhutto said that the sacking of the finance minister was the victory of the PDM.
“PTIMF minister needed to be elected to continue in post and Senate defeat made that impossible,” he said while attributing to the IHC decision which bared the non-elected SAPMs from enjoying ministerial powers.
He further said that the government has now admitted that inflation is skyrocketing because of its failed policies. “Parliamentary opposition [has] proven most effective vs this regime,” he said in a veiled reference towards other PDM leaders especially PML-N that has stressed upon the need to resign from the assemblies.
Inflation: The month of February had seen a rebound in prices of consumer items as inflation edged up to 8.7 per cent from 5.7pc in January. Non-food inflation has steadily been on the rise for the past few months due to higher energy prices.
With shortages in domestic production, inflation at the beginning of the current fiscal year stood at 9.3pc in July, easing down to 8.2pc in August before rebounding to 9pc in September. Since September, inflation has been on a downward trajectory, giving some relief to end consumers.
The opposition blames the government’s mismanagement of the economy for having brought the GDP down to as low as 0.4pc from 5.8pc during the PML-N government and the inflation jumping to as high as 14pc from below 4pc.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecasted the economy to grow 1.5pc this year against the government’s target of 2.3pc in the fiscal year 2020-21.
