Islamabad: The Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has succumbed to pressure from hardliners and removed a renowned economist Atif R Mian from the economic advisory council (EAC) as he was Ahmadi by faith. Apart from a vicious online campaign against Mian’s appointment, opposition parties - including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and an alliance of several religious parties - had submitted a call-to-attention notice in the Senate, the upper house of Parliament, against his inclusion in the 18-member EAC.
Information minister Fawad Chaudhry took to Twitter to make the announcement of his removal, saying: “The government has decided to withdraw Mian’s appointment as it wants to avoid division… The government wants to move forward, taking along religious scholars and all segments of society, and it would be inappropriate if a single nomination creates an impression to the contrary.” In a tweet, PTI senator Faisal Javed said Mian had agreed to step down and that a replacement would be announced later.
Mian, a Pakistani-American, has served as a professor of economics, public policy and finance at Princeton University and as director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Centre for Public Policy and Finance at Woodrow Wilson School. He is the only Pakistani to be considered among IMF’s ‘top-25 brightest young economists’.
The news of Mian’s removal from EAC comes as a big surprise since the PTI government, while defending his academic credentials, had said in categorical terms that it would ‘not bow to extremists’. “Pakistan belongs as much to minorities as it does to the majority,” Chaudhry had said. About one million Ahmadis living in Pakistan have been prohibited by law from identifying themselves as Muslims. Also, their freedom of religion has been curtailed by a series of ordinances, acts and constitutional amendments.
Two economists resign in protest
Two economists have resigned from EAC in protest against the removal of Mian. "With a heavy heart, I have resigned from the EAC," Dr Imran Rasul, a professor of economics at University College London, said in a tweet. "I wish the government and EAC luck in their future work and remain willing to offer non-partisan, evidence based advice that can help improve economic policy making in the country," he said. His resignation came a day after another EAC member Dr Asim ljaz Khwaja, a professor of International Finance and Development at the Harvard Kennedy School, resigned hours after the the PTI government asked Mian to step down.
