In a blow to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led federal government, economist Sakib Sherani resigned as member of the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) on Saturday.
He became the 4th member to step down from the EAC. While Sherani cited personal reasons for his resignation, well-placed sources said it was the resentment over the government’s overlooking the EAC while presenting the mini-budget in the Parliament that forced him to quit.
They said that the economist resigned because the government didn’t consult the council before presenting the finance bill in the National Assembly.
Last year in September, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced the constitution of the 18-member EAC. Barely a week after its formation, the government withdrew the nomination of Atif R Mian of Princeton University as EAC member following protests by some sections of society as well as parliamentarians, who objected to his inclusion in the council for his alleged association with the Ahmadi faith.
Later, two other members of the council stepped down in protest. On September 6, Dr Asim Ijaz Khwaja announced his resignation shortly after the government asked Dr Atif Mian to step down from his position.
“Have resigned from EAC. Painful, deeply sad decision. Grateful for chance to aid analytical reasoning but not when such values compromised. Personally as a Muslim I can’t justify this. May Allah forgive/guide me & us all. Ever ready to help. Pakistan Paindabad,” Dr Khwaja had tweeted. Following suit, London-based economist Dr Imran Rasul quit the council, saying, “With a heavy heart, I have resigned from the EAC this morning.”
Published in Daily Times, January 27th 2019.
