LAHORE (National Times) – Former finance minister Miftah Ismail claims that Finance and Revenue Minister Ishaq Dar ran campaigns against him for more than six months.

“The campaign targeted me as Mr Dar cannot tolerate someone else from the party as the finance minister,” he said during a podcast on a YouTube channel. Mr Ismail said Dar claimed to bring the US dollar rate down to Rs160. The finance minister asked anchors to tweet against him [Ismail] and host TV programmes, he alleged.

The PML-N leader said Mr Dar used to tell PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif that he would bring the dollar rate and petroleum prices down. He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was satisfied with his performance and didn t want to replace him. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal was restored and default risk had also minimised in my tenure, he said.

The former finance minister added that even though it was the prime minister s prerogative to remove him, the way it was done was not respectful. Nawaz Sharif called him to London and told him in front of 12 people that he was being replaced, deplored Miftah Ismail said.