PM Shehbaz appoints Ishaq Dar leader of House in Senate

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appointed on Friday Finance Minister Ishaq Dar as Leader of the House in the Senate of Pakistan.

His appointment was approved by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif. PM Shehbaz has sent the summary to the Senate Secretariat, which will soon issue the notification of Dar as the Leader of the House.

Dar will be replacing Senator Azam Tarar, who will continue as Group Parliamentary Leader of the PMLN in Senate. Dar had served as Leader of Opposition in Senate back in 2012.

Dar arrived in Pakistan on Monday from London with the hope of stabilising the economy that has been battered in the wake of floods and high commodity prices, especially energy.

President Alvi administers oath to Ishaq Dar as federal minister

Dar took oath as a senator under the administration of Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani. Following this, the PML-N leader was appointed as the finance minister, replacing Dr Miftah Ismail.

Dar has become finance minister for the fourth time, this time with the challenge of getting the economy out of one of its worst balance of payment crises that has seen foreign reserves falling to a month of imports.

In one of his first moves as finance czar, Dar briefed International Monetary Fund (IMF) Mission Chief Nathan Porter, on the economic situation caused by the devastating floods in the country affected infrastructure, crops and the livelihood of the people in a virtual meeting on Thursday.

He also visited the Federal Board of Revenue and presided over a meeting on its revenue performance of the FBR.

The senior PML-N leader arrived in Pakistan on Monday after five years. Dar had been in London since 2017.

On September 23, Accountability Court-I Judge Muhammad Bashir suspended the arrest warrant of Dar in the assets beyond means case till October 7, 2022. The court had stated at the time it will consider permanently suspending Dar’s arrest warrants once he surrenders before the court.

Subsequently, Dar appeared before the court to seek cancellation of his arrest warrant. The PML-N leader told the court that he wanted to come to Pakistan despite being unwell, but the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government had seized his passport.

Issuing notice to the National Accountability Bureau, the court deferred the hearing till October 7.