Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Sunday accepted former finance minister Shaukat Tarin’s resignation from the upper house of the Parliament.

On Friday, Tarin had announced he had decided to quit the PTI and politics for good, citing financial and health reasons. He had told Dawn.com that the last two-and-a-half years had been “very challenging” for him, both financially and due to his “deteriorating health” after “double Covid episodes”.

“Therefore, at the insistence of my family and friends, I have decided to resign from active politics for good and move on,” Tarin had said, adding that he was resigning from PTI and also from the Senate.

According to a statement issued by the Senate Secretariat today, Tarin met Sanjrani in Dubai and tendered his resignation, which was accepted by the Senate chairman.

Tarin was appointed the finance minister by the PTI government on April 17, 2021. However, because he was not elected to Parliament, his constitutional term ended on October 16, after which he was made the finance adviser to the prime minister.

In Dec 2021, the PTI government managed to get Tarin elected as a senator, allowing him to resume his role as finance minister.

Tarin’s resignation is a substantial blow to PTI, already reeling from the departure of numerous leaders since May 9, when violated protests erupted following the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan.

Among those who have left are prominent figures like Usman Buzdar, Ali Zaidi, Pervez Khattak, Fawad Chaudhry, Shireen Mazari, Asad Umar, Usman Dar and Farrukh Habib.