The Lahore High Court (LHC) has sought arguments on a petition requesting full disclosure of Pakistan’s total external debt, including hidden liabilities, markup, and insurance costs.

The plea also challenges the Fiscal Responsibility & Debt Limitation (FRDL) Act 2005, claiming it is unconstitutional.

Justice Shahid Karim directed the concerned parties to present their arguments on the matter, which questions alleged irregularities in the government’s debt calculations and amendments to financial laws.

Petitioner Munir Ahmed contended that the federal government had altered the definition of “public debt” in violation of a Supreme Court ruling. The top court had previously ruled that such changes required approval from the federal cabinet and both houses of Parliament. However, the government reportedly bypassed this process and made significant modifications to the FRDL Act 2005 through the Finance Act 2017.

According to the petition, the amended debt calculation formula now excludes deposits held by provincial and federal governments within the banking system.

As a result, the reported national debt was understated by approximately Rs2 trillion, showing public debt at Rs18.9 trillion as of March 2017.

The petitioner further argued that these changes were not included in the original Finance Bill 2017, which was approved by the federal cabinet on May 26, 2017.