Asad Umar claims Shaukat Tareen suggested IMF relief in audio

• Asad Umar defended an audio leak of former finance minister Shaukat Tarin speaking to Punjab and KP finance ministers and urging they visit the Centre to seek IMF support amid the floods
• Asad Umar, speaking to the media with KP foreign minister Taimur Jhagra, bemoaned the former finance minister’s phone tapping and claimed that the government had changed the dialogue

ISLAMABAD:  PTI Secretary General Asad Umar defended an audio leak of former finance minister Shaukat Tarin speaking to Punjab and KP finance ministers and urging they visit the Centre to seek IMF support amid the floods.

Asad Umar, speaking to the media with KP foreign minister Taimur Jhagra, bemoaned the former finance minister’s phone tapping and claimed that the government had changed the dialogue. “These are old PML-N practices of cutting and pasting films and audios,” he claimed.

Tarin, according to Umar, just urged the provincial finance ministers to inform the Centre to go back to the IMF and seek relief on the terms established for the release of the US$1.18 billion loan tranche.

“If we’re asking for money from other countries, why can’t we ask the IMF for some relief to spend on floods?” he asked. “The letter issued by the KP minister demonstrates what they desired from the Centre in terms of help for the national exchequer, which is overloaded as a result of the disastrous floods.”

Speaking on the occasion, Taimur Jhagra stated that he had to write another letter to the finance minister after Miftah Ismail failed to follow through on pledges made during their meeting regarding cash for the former FATA districts.

“We requested them to sit with us and discuss the problem even after they agreed to surplus provincial budgets with the IMF. On July 6, 2006, we sent a letter in this regard “He revealed.

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While admitting the contents of the letter to Miftah Ismail, Jhagra stated that he was simply requesting funds for the former FATA territories. “We will not compromise on FATA areas because people live in deplorable conditions,” he stated.