Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah has vehemently criticised the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for approving a $2.4 billion bailout package for Pakistan when India-Pakistan relations have shown their most alarming peak during recent years. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Abdullah questioned the logic of the move by the IMF funding to Pakistan, which, he said, would only be encouraging the military in Pakistan to go into civilian areas like Jammu and Kashmir, such as in Poonch and Rajouri.
“The IMF is essentially reimbursing Pakistan for the ordnance being used to devastate parts of Jammu and Kashmir”, Omar Abdullah remarked, referring to recent cross-border shelling since India’s May 7 precision strikes on terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Those were in retaliation for the earlier terrorist attack in Pahalgam, which left 26 people dead. The Foreign Secretary of India, S. Jaishankar, also expressed his thoughts on the same, saying that it was completely unfair for other countries as the IMF sanction loan to Pakistan.
The Indian government also raised its chin in protest formally during the IMF executive board meeting. Statistics from the Ministry of Finance indicated that India had profound reservations regarding the efficiency of IMF programs in Pakistan due to the wretched history of the country in handling international finances, and reports suggesting that the said funds were diverted to fund state-sponsored cross-border terrorism. Thus, the IMF gave loan to Pakistan to support terrorism, which is now being criticized by various countries.
India did not take part in the vote on the bailout because it is not allowed to cast negative votes in the IMF’s executive board. The package approved under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) includes $1 billion under EFF and $1.3 billion under RSF.
India cautioned that continuing to reward Pakistan when it is acting in the same way can only be a dangerous message to the rest of the world, it can harm the reputation of agencies that provide funding, such as the IMF, and it can compromise the global norms and values. As military tensions escalate in the region, the controversy shows the increasing international watch on the financial gymnastics of Pakistan.
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