Minister of State for IT and Telecom Shaza Fatima accused former caretaker federal minister Dr. Umar Saif of sabotaging a private deal to bring the international gateway, PayPal, to Pakistan by leaking information prematurely.
“Bringing PayPal to Pakistan was a private deal, which Dr. Saif leaked before time. This action annoyed PayPal, and he (Dr. Umar) sabotaged it,” said Fatima while speaking to media persons.
She further blamed the former caretaker minister for announcing the news regarding PayPal in haste for image building.
She stated that the government is working to bring an international payment gateway to the country. In January 2024, Dr. Saif announced that the government had resolved the long-standing demand of freelancers by enabling them to channel remittances through the international gateway, PayPal.
Again, in March 2024, he announced that Pakistan’s online freelancers would be able to receive PayPal remittances through a tri-party arrangement without needing to create a PayPal wallet.
He had stated that the goal was to enable them to accept PayPal payments from their clients abroad through a third-party digital wallet, which would use an international remittance mechanism to remit the dollars to Pakistan and instantly credit the freelancer’s bank account in Pakistan.
