When the IMF reinstated Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program, former finance minister and PTI leader Asad Umar criticized the PML-N and PPP leadership for praising the public. The seventh and eighth evaluations of Pakistan’s stalled $6 billion IMF program were authorized on Monday.
After the IMF program was reinstated, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail praised the public and hailed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for preventing a default.
The Sadr supporters who had occupied the parliament building for weeks subsequently stormed the government offices in the Green Zone, which had formerly served as Saddam Hussein’s palace.
Young men supporting Sadr and pro-Iran militia supporters flung stones at each other near the Green Zone before the evening gun violence broke out.
Police and medical personnel reported at least 17 deaths and dozens more injuries. The demonstrators were asked to evacuate the Green Zone and a statewide curfew was imposed by the Iraqi military.
While Sadr was the most popular candidate in the October election, he withdrew all of his legislators from parliament in June after failing to create a cabinet that excluded his opponents, largely Tehran-backed Shi’ite parties, due to his opposition to US and Iranian dominance in Iraqi politics.
Sadr has pushed for the dissolution of parliament and early elections. He claims that any politician in authority since the US invasion in 2003 should resign.
