ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Finance and Revenue, Dr Waqar Masood, on Tuesday tendered his resignation on alleged differences with Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin.
Sources said that Masood has forwarded his resignation to Prime Minister Imran Khan and the premier will decide whether to accept or reject his resignation.
In a tweet, anchorperson Kamran Khan revealed that Dr Waqar Masood resigned from the position owing to differences with Shaukat Tarin over FBR reforms as well as the Kamyab Pakistan Programme.
He added that the resignation was not related to the recent hacking disaster at FBR finally making waves at Prime Minister Office (PMO) as the system has not fully recovered so far. Tarin was not informed about the disaster for the first 48 hours.
Kamran Khan further wrote that Dr Ashfaq Tariq, as well as Tariq Huda, were favourites for the chairman FBR slot.
However, local media outlets reported that differences between the two, the finance minister and SAPM, emerged over the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
Masood wanted the government to implement the IMF conditions as per the money lender’s programme whereas the finance minister was of the view that Pakistan will not be able to implement those conditions.
Earlier, it was reported that Dr Waqar Masood wanted powers of finance secretary due to which Kamran Afzal transferred him from the Finance Division to the Ministry of Industries and Production.
Dr Masood was appointed SAPM on Finance and Revenue in October last year. Before his appointment to the post, he was assisting the Ministry of Finance in different informal capacities and was then made in charge of a high-powered committee working to create a targeted subsidies mechanism for different sectors of the national economy.
