ISLAMABAD: In yet another blow to former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, one of its top leaders and former finance minister Shaukat Tarin on Friday announced to resign his Senate seat and quit politics altogether.
Tarin since the beginning of a crackdown against the party following the violent protests of May 9 when people holding PTI flags vandalized government buildings and military installations.
The incident took place after Khan’s brief arrest on graft charges from the high court in Islamabad which enraged his supporters.
“I am resigning from the Senate and PTI,” he said in a brief statement. “The last two-and-a-half years have been very difficult due to my health and financial condition.”
“I am quitting politics after consulting my friends and family members,” he added.
Tarin also confirmed his decision while speaking to Geo News.
A banker by profession, he was appointed as finance minister by ex-PM Khan in April 2021.
Last year in September, Tarin became embroiled in a political scandal after an audio leak in which he purportedly instructed two provincial finance ministers of his party to resist cooperation with Pakistan’s federal government negotiating with the International Monetary
Fund to secure a bailout in tough economic circumstances.
The incident happened after Khan’s ouster in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022 and raised questions about PTI’s tactics that allegedly prioritized party agenda over national interests.
Despite PTI’s ongoing political woes, the former prime minister has expressed confidence it will win the next general elections scheduled on February 8.
