In Lahore, former finance minister Shaukat Tarin has tendered his resignation from the Senate, the upper house of the parliament, following his separation from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Tarin, a close associate of former PTI chief Imran Khan, disclosed this information during a media interaction. This development marks the latest exit from the beleaguered PTI, as several leaders have left the party since the events of May 9, when party supporters attacked military installations across the country following the arrest of the former prime minister.
Tarin, elected as a senator from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on a PTI ticket in 2021, previously served as the finance minister in former PM Imran Khan’s cabinet from October 2021 to April 2022.
The former PTI chief, Imran Khan, and his deputy, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, are currently incarcerated in Adiala Jail on charges related to cipher and other cases. Khan’s arrest in August of the current year followed an accountability court’s imposition of a jail sentence in the Toshakhana case. Although the Islamabad High Court (IHC) later suspended the conviction, a special court established under the Official Secrets Act approved his judicial remand in the cipher case for further investigation.