By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Former finance minister Shaukat Tarin said on Friday he was quitting politics for good, citing health and financial reasons, in a latest blow to Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party that has faced a wave of defections and arrests.
Tarin, who served as finance minister twice under different governments, said he had faced “very challenging” times in the last two-and-a-half years, especially after contracting Covid-19 twice.
“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. “Hence, I am resigning from PTI and also from the Senate of Pakistan.”
“I want to thank all those colleagues and friends who have helped me along this journey,” he added.
Tarin, a career banker who worked for Citi Bank for 22 years, was accused of being involved in a leaked audio in 2022, where he and two former provincial finance ministers allegedly discussed sabotaging Pakistan’s deal with the International Monetary Fund.
He, who helped steer the economy out of crisis in 2008-10 under the PPP government and claimed to have achieved the best economic performance in 17 years under the former prime minister Imran Khan’s PTI government, said he had tried to serve the country for 27 years at “great personal costs”.
Tareen resignation is the latest setback for the PTI party, which has seen several prominent members quit or get arrested since May, when violent protests erupted across the country following the arrest of Khan on corruption charges.
Among the high-profile PTI leaders who have left the party are Shireen Mazari, Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry and Pervez Khattak.
Tarin was appointed as finance minister by the PTI government in April 2021, but had to step down in October as he was not a member of parliament. He was then made the finance adviser to the prime minister, and later elected as a senator in December, allowing him to resume his role as finance minister.
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