Pakistan Finance Minister Dar courts controversy; allegedly harasses journalist over question on elusive IMF deal

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has found himself at the centre of a controversy for engaging in a heated exchange with a journalist, who accused the politician of slapping him over a question about the stalled IMF deal.

Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has found himself at the centre of a controversy for engaging in a heated exchange with a journalist, who accused the politician of slapping him over a question about the stalled IMF deal.

The incident occurred on June 22 when Mr. Dar was leaving the parliament premises after addressing a National Assembly session when he was approached by journalist Shahid Qureshi, the Dawn newspaper reported.

In a video that has gone viral on social media, the reporter can be seen asking Mr. Dar if he would be willing to talk and the minister responded he had just finished speaking.

Mr. Qureshi then inquired about the progress of the stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme and referred to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's recent meeting with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.

While Mr. Dar, 73, did not reply to the questions, the journalist persisted and questioned the government's failure to secure the USD 1.1 billion deal from the Washington-based global lender.

Mr. Dar then retorted that the deal could not be cracked "because people like you are in the system".

The journalist defending himself asserted that reporters were not part of the system but merely asked questions.