Senator Ayub Afridi of PTI Tuesday resigned to make way for the election of Prime Minister’s Adviser on Finance Shaukat Tarin as a member of the Parliament.
According to a notification available with Daily Times, the Senate Secretariat declared Ayub Afridi’s seat vacant subsequently. The notification was also sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for information.
As per rules, when a seat falls vacant, the ECP is bound to hold reelections within 30 days. A source privy to the development confided to this reporter that Afridi may be appointed as PM’s Adviser on Overseas Pakistanis. Talking to Daily Times, Afridi also confirmed that he had left the Senate seat. Afridi said he had submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Imran Khan earlier but was asked to wait because of the joint session.
“The prime minister entrusted me with the Senate seat and I returned it happily,” he said. To a question about the possibility of his appointment as PM’s advisor on Overseas Pakistanis, he didn’t clearly answer but hinted that he would have no objection if the prime minister did not give him any official responsibility. “If given the opportunity by the prime minister I would serve the nation and the country,” Afridi added.
After failure to get Shaukat Tarin elected as a member of the Parliament within the stipulated six-month timeframe, the government had appointed him as Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenues with the status of Federal Minister on October 17. A couple of months ago, the government had to face a severe political blow when PTI’s candidate from the federal capital Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh faced defeat against PPP candidate Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani.
Later, the prime minister replaced adviser to the PM on finance and revenues Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh unceremoniously and then appointed Shaukat Tarin as Federal Minister for Finance with effect from April 17, 2021. Under the constitutional obligations, it was mandatory to elect Tarin as a member of the Parliament within the six month-period. This deadline had expired on October 16, 2021 and the government could not decide to elect him.
The government was left with no other option but to appoint him as an Adviser to PM on Finance and Revenues as a stop-gap arrangement until his election as a Senator.
