ISLAMABAD: As there is no letup in the crackdown against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, Shaukat Tarin, a former finance minister, parted ways with the party on Friday, citing “financial and health issues”.

Besides quitting politics, Tarin also announced to vacate his Senate seat, saying that the last two-and-a-half years had been quite challenging for him, both financially and due to his deteriorating health after double Covid-19 episodes during his time in office.

“These are the reasons, at the insistence of my family and friends, I have decided to resign from active politics for good and move on,” he said in a statement.

“I’m resigning from PTI and also from the Senate of Pakistan,” he said, adding that “I want to thank all those colleagues and friends who have helped me along this journey,” he added.

Tarin also said that over his political career, he had helped different political parties manage the economy.

“In 2008-10 as finance minister under PPP, I helped save the country from impending default and stabilised the economy. Also concluded a consensus on National Finance Commission award after 19 years,” he added.

He went on to say that as the finance minister during the PTI government, he clocked the best economic performance in 17 years as stated in the Economic Survey of Pakistan of 2022.

Tarin said he tried to pay back the country for the last 27 years at great personal costs as he followed in the footsteps of his father, a Pakistan Movement veteran.

Tarin was first appointed as finance minister in April 2021, but his term ended as federal minister since he could hold office for only six months without being a lawmaker.

However, the then prime minister Imran Khan did not let him go and appointed him as his adviser on finance. In the same year in December, Tarin became a senator after winning the by-polls for a general seat in Senate.

Days after this, he was sworn in as the federal finance minister for a second time and served the post for just four months as the PTI government was driven out of parliament in a vote of no-confidence against Imran Khan in April 2022.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023