ISLAMABAD: A vocal and key PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar on Tuesday announced that he had decided to resign from the Senate after being told that the party leadership was unhappy with him over the “positions” he had taken during the recent political developments.

“Met a senior leader from the party [PPP] today. He conveyed that the party leadership wasn’t happy with my political positions and wanted my resignation from the Senate. I gladly agreed to resign,” wrote Mr Khokhar on his official Twitter handle, without mentioning as to who had asked him to resign from the Senate seat prior to completion of his six-year term in March 2024.

“Thankful to the party leadership for giving me the Senate seat from Sindh. Differences aside, it’s been a wonderful journey with them and wish them the best,” said Mr Khokhar, while announcing that he would hand over his resignation to Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Wednesday (today).

A number of PPP leaders said they had been expecting Mr Khokhar to resign not only from the Senate, but also from the party since the time when he had quit the key position of the official spokesman for party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in December 2020.

A senior PPP office-bearer said he was not surprised at all after receiving the news about Mr Khokhar’s decision to quit the Senate.

Though the PPP leader confirmed that the party leadership wasn’t happy with Mr Khokhar for a number of reasons, he claimed that the decision to quit the Senate had been taken by Mr Khokhar himself as perhaps he had decided to join some other party.

In December 2020, Mr Khokhar had resigned as official spokesperson for Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, but stated that he would continue to be a part of the PPP.

He had stated that he would be able to comment and express his thoughts more freely, without any compulsions and responsibility that came with the position of spokesperson of a party head.

When contacted to seek his comments, Mr Khokhar said: “I have said what needed to be said, truthfully in my tweet.”

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2022