Former Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who is currently in self-exile while facing corruption charges in the Accountability Courts in Pakistan, appeared on BBC HARDtalk and was unable to justify his answers in front of English journalist and program host Stephen Sackur.
Stephen Sackur asked Ishaq Dar regarding properties he or his family owns to which he replied “It’s all declared in my tax returns”.
In response, Sackur demanded a straight answer to which Ishaq Dar stated that “I have my main residence in Pakistan which has been taken over by this regime. My sole property is my residence”.
The host then pointed out the properties possessed by his sons in London or Dubai, to which the former minister responded that his children are doing business for seventeen years and they own a villa in Dubai and whatever they own is not under his direct ownership.
After this reply by Dar, Stephen Sackur directly questioned Dar, why don’t you go back to Pakistan if your record is crystal clear and make this case in the court of law?
Dar replied, “I am here for my medical issue,” and that “there is a human rights crisis in Pakistan, and people under the custody of the National Accountability have been virtually killed”.
Ishaq Dar also faced humiliation in the interview when he put allegations of rigging in the 2018 general elections. To which the host responded that the European Union observers have declared in the report that the electoral process of 2018 was credible.
HARDtalk host Stephen Sackur called Ishaq Dar a hypocrite
Stephen Sackur labeled Dar’s and his close ally Nawaz Sharif’s stance hypocrisy, as he worked under Pakistan’s military dictator General Zia for several years before quickly turning around saying that military meddling in the country’s politics is completely intolerable.
Ishaq Dar abruptly called it an “evolution process”.
The interview was not directly broadcast in Pakistan, but it is available on YouTube and other social media platforms.
The Ishaq Dar’s interview soon became a hot topic on social media and netizens came out with all sorts of responses and in response, BBC program host Sackur himself tweeted that, “My interview with former Finance Minister seems to be causing quite a stir in Pakistan”.
My interview with former Finance Minister @MIshaqDar50 seems to be causing quite a stir in #Pakistan.
— Stephen Sackur (@stephensackur) December 1, 2020
Well worth watching the whole interview if you can… @BBCHARDtalk on @BBCWorld https://t.co/PAuyjw6EsP
