Pakistan

Shaukat Tarin on television

June 29, 2010

CAIRO: This is with reference to Meekal Ahmed’s article “Shaukat Tarin on television” (June 28). Tarin was Pakistan’s finance minister for a very short time. In his brief spell in office, he did a number of things for which the country should be indebted to him. His prime accomplishment was bringing the National Finance Commission award to an amicable conclusion at a time when there were countless divisions between Pakistan’s four provinces.

The writer's implicit criticism of the man is without any basis. Tarin served his country well and guarded its interests by not giving in to institutions that support unbridled capitalism like the IMF. Unlike an unprincipled government bureaucrat — who would serve any regime to hold unto office eternally — he had the courage to resign when he found that his policies could not be implemented. In addition, one should also give him high marks for not bashing up the government on TV after leaving office.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2010.

COMMENTS (2)

Malik Tariq Ali | 14 years ago | Reply The problem with some people who have worked in IMF and World Bank, is that they consider a stint in Pakistan, an oppurtunity for self promotion. Pakistan economy suffers today because of the role of men like Shoaib Mohd, M.Khan,Shaukat Aziz, Moin Qureshi etc, who had no stakes in Pakistan and because they were either settled in USA or had acquired their nationalities, they were bound to follow dictates of Washington, if ever there was a conflict between our national interest and that of America. Shaukat Tarin has chosen to have his majority assets located in Pakistan, and therefore he has more credibilty. Although we need an economist like Dr Manmohan, it is important that he must hold only a Pakistani nationality. This is a very essential requirement for the job of Minister Finance, Governor State Bank etc.

Meekal Ahmed | 14 years ago | Reply The only point I wanted to make is that Mr. Tareen should have come out with something bold, a plan of some sort, rather than repeat what is well known. Now out of government, he had the license to do so. I have written about him elsewhere when he was the FM. He is a good man and he pulled the economy back from the brink. That is no small accomplishment.

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