PPP-PML-N talks: Bad loans dating back to 1971 to be recovered

PML-N expresses dissatisfaction over progress on its 10-point agenda.

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) agreed on Tuesday that they will recover loans worth over Rs250 billion, obtained from 1971 to date, from top 100 defaulters of each nationalised bank.

The decision came on the first day of the latest round of talks between the government and the PML-N. The loan recovery condition was one of the ten points put forward by the PML-N on January 10.

“The decision to recover loans from the top 100 defaulters of banks has been taken and recovery will begin soon,” Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said after the meeting.

Defaulters include military generals, politicians and top industrialists of Pakistan and the Supreme Court is already hearing a case to recover such loans.

However, the PML-N’s leadership remained unsatisfied.

“The important decisions are taking time and the PML-N is running out of patience,” said PML-N’s chief negotiator Senator Ishaq Dar, who showed satisfaction with the progress in earlier rounds of talks.

According to a statement issued on Tuesday, PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif also expressed dissatisfaction.

Dar said the latest round of talks will continue for another three days, adding the government has assured the PML-N that the new cabinet size will be within constitutional limits.

He added the government has reassured that it will notify the parliamentary committee to reform the Election Commission of Pakistan within a couple of days.

Both sides will meet today (Wednesday) to negotiate new tax proposals to bridge the increasing gap between government income and spending.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2011.