Agree with you bro, I also know him.There are 2 main groups of economist in Pakistan Pro IMF and those who are against IMF ... Dr. Ishfaq Ahmed Khan represent the group who are not in favour of IMF ..... while another groups of economists also exist who are not in favour of IMF and want to get rid of IMF as soon as possible but accept as necessary evil in current situation .... Shaukat Tareen is part of this group.
Hafeez Sheikh was part of pro IMF lobby ..... I personally believe IK by this move want to give signal that he is not too eager to continue with IMF may be before elections we may see the PTI doing something related to this .... and IK is preparing some move in this direction before 2023 elections.
People quoting his performance in PPP ere dont know 2 things:
i. He was finance minister in PPP era during worst possible time, 2008 global financial crisis.
ii. He quit as finance minister when he realised PPP was not serious about any reforms.
He indeed sees IMF as 'necessary evil', he is not from the likes of Baqir and Hafeez sheikh who are imported guns, he very much Pakistani down to the bone. That means he knows how to mobilise revenues in Pakistan without the usual clichés found in text books that our imported financial managers always exercise.
The real test will be of IK whether he will be serious to push reforms proposed by ST. I am hopeful because he has been offered positions in this government from day 1, there would be a reason why he finally accepted one.