Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: On Tuesday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Senator Ayub Afridi has stepped down as a member of the upper house of Parliament to create a seat for Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Shaukat Tarin in the Senate.

Meanwhile, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrabni has accepted his resignation. Afridi would likely be appointed as the adviser to the prime minister on overseas Pakistanis, sources said.

The government plans to get Tarin elected as Senator from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

In a video statement, Ayub Afridi said he had already submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Imran Khan but was told to wait until the joint sitting of Parliament is over.

“The Senate seat was the prime minister’s “amanat” (trust), which I happily returned,” he said, adding that he won’t take offence if he is not entrusted with any new responsibility.

Earlier on Oct 18, the government had appointed Shaukat Tarin as the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance, two days after his tenure as the finance minister ended. Tarin’s six-month tenure as the Minister of Finance expired on October 16.

Under the country’s constitution, a non-elected person can be appointed as a federal minister for a six-month period, during which he or she is bound to be elected to Parliament to continue the term.

Since Tarin could not get elected to Parliament, he was made the PM’s adviser on finance and revenue to continue leading the incumbent government’s economic team.