Pakistan election: Imran Khan asks IMF to audit results

Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister, Imran Khan, sent a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), urging it to ensure the audit of at least 30% of national and provincial assembly seats before considering any further bailout talks with the cash-strapped country.

The 71-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party founder had announced last week that he would ask the global lender to avoid any assistance as the authorities rigged the electoral outcome to keep his party out of power.

His nominated chairman of the party, Gohar Ali Khan, who addressed a press conference with party Secretary-General Omar Ayub Khan, confirmed the letter but refused to share its content.

A party spokesman also said the letter would not be shared with the media until the party recognized it.

However, the Press Trust of India has seen a letter addressed to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva by party spokesperson Raoof Hasan under the guidance of Khan. It begins with a clarification that the party was not against the IMF facility to Pakistan.

“It must be clarified at the very outset that the PTI does not wish to stand in the way of any IMF facility to the state of Pakistan that promotes the country’s immediate as well as the long-term economic well-being,” the letter read.

But it added that the IMF facility should be linked with conditions. “It is clear that such facility, along with the national commitment to bring about necessary reforms that facilitate repayment and enable the country to stand on its own feet, can only be negotiated in the best interests of the people of Pakistan by a duly elected government that has the trust of the people of Pakistan,” it stated.

The letter stated that the IMF is attached to good governance, transparency, upholding the rule of law, and curbing corrupt practices while entering financing agreements with member countries.

“It is a well-established reality that a government without legitimate representation, when imposed upon a country, carries no moral authority to govern, and, in particular, to carry out taxation measures,” the letter said.