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Pakistan finmin in Washington for IMF, World Bank annual meetings, MENAP forum

Pakistan finmin in Washington for IMF, World Bank annual meetings, MENAP forum
Pakistan Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb speaks during a Reuters interview at the 2025 annual IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC, US, April 25, 2025. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 12 October 2025
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Pakistan finmin in Washington for IMF, World Bank annual meetings, MENAP forum

Pakistan finmin in Washington for IMF, World Bank annual meetings, MENAP forum
  • Muhammad Aurangzeb to meet IMF, World Bank heads, deliver keynote at MENAP forum
  • Visit comes as Pakistan seeks to unlock next IMF loan tranche amid economic strain 
Updated 12 October 2025
Ismail Dilawar
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KARACHI: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb arrived in Washington on Sunday to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, where he will hold a series of high-level talks on investment, taxation and economic reforms, the Ministry of Finance said.

The visit comes as Pakistan engages with the International Monetary Fund to unlock the next tranche of its $7 billion loan program approved in September 2024, aimed at supporting economic stabilization and structural reforms. 

According to the statement, the finance minister will attend more than 65 events, meetings and roundtables during his visit, including two key sessions hosted by the World Economic Forum (WEF), and will outline Pakistan’s economic priorities and investment opportunities to international partners.

“Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb will represent Pakistan at the plenary meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund,” the ministry said in a statement.

“He will meet IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and other senior officials of international financial institutions during his visit to the United States.”

At the IMF’s Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP) platform, Aurangzeb will meet Georgieva and deliver a keynote address on Pakistan’s economic outlook and reform agenda.

The finance minister will also take part in a regional roundtable on the digital transformation of Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), alongside tax authorities from other countries.

During his six-day visit, Aurangzeb is scheduled to meet his counterparts from China, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Azerbaijan. His engagements also include meetings with senior officials at the White House, the US Treasury Department, the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), and the US Pakistan Business Council.

He is also expected to meet representatives of global credit-rating agencies, commercial banks, including Middle Eastern investment banks, and major U.S. think tanks such as the Atlantic Council and the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Topics: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb

Two Pakistan top court judges resign in protest as 27th constitutional amendment becomes law

Two Pakistan top court judges resign in protest as 27th constitutional amendment becomes law
Updated 41 min 17 sec ago
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Two Pakistan top court judges resign in protest as 27th constitutional amendment becomes law

Two Pakistan top court judges resign in protest as 27th constitutional amendment becomes law
  • Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah resign hours after president signs contentious amendments into law
  • Amendments elevate army chief to new post of Chief of Defense Forces, set up separate court to hear constitutional cases
Updated 41 min 17 sec ago
Usama Iqbal Khawaja

ISLAMABAD: Two judges of Pakistan’s Supreme Court resigned in protest against the 27th constitutional amendment hours after it was signed into law on Thursday, with one of them saying the fresh changes were a “grave assault” on the constitution. 

The amendments make changes to the powerful military’s structure, promoting Pakistan’s Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir to Chief of Defense Forces. This means the navy and air force are now under his command, in addition to the army. The legislation also abolishes the post of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. 

The 27th constitutional amendment also sets up a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) which would hear and decide cases relating to Pakistan’s constitution instead of the Supreme Court. 

Hours after President Asif Ali Zardari signed the amendment into law, Supreme Court judges Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah resigned from their posts. 

“The Twenty-Seventh Constitutional Amendment stands as a grave assault on the Constitution of Pakistan,” Justice Shah wrote in his resignation letter addressed to the president, a copy of which is available with Arab News. 

“It dismantles the Supreme Court of Pakistan, subjugates the judiciary to executive control, and strikes at the very heart of our constitutional democracy, making justice more distant, more fragile, and more vulnerable to power,” he added. 

The FCC’s judges will be appointed by the government, a move critics say will clip the judiciary’s powers. Pakistan’s government has said the FCC will help reduce the judiciary’s burden and ensure speedy justice to the masses. 

The Supreme Court judge said staying on would not only amount to “silent acquiescence in a constitutional wrong” but would also mean continuing to sit in a court whose constitutional voice “has been muted.”

 He said the Supreme Court had still retained the jurisdiction to examine and answer constitutional questions in the 26th constitutional amendment. 

“The present amendment has stripped this court of that fundamental and critical jurisdiction and authority,” he said.

“Serving in such a truncated and diminished court, I cannot protect the constitution, nor can I even judicially examine the amendment that has disfigured it.”

‘SELECTIVE SILENCE, INACTION’

Justice Minallah said in his resignation letter that before the 27th constitutional amendment was passed, he wrote to the chief justice to express his concerns over the proposed changes and what they would mean for Pakistan’s constitutional order.

“I need not reproduce the detailed contents of that letter, but suffice it to say that, against a canvas of selective silence and inaction, those fears have now come to be,” Minallah wrote. 

“The Constitution that I swore an oath to uphold and defend is no more,” he added. 

Pakistan’s military, which has ruled the country directly for over 30 years, still continues to wield considerable influence from behind the scenes. It vigorously denies interfering in political or constitutional matters.

Topics: Justice Mansoor Ali Shah Chief Justice Athar Minallah

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