his brief tenure as finance minister, he was criticized for causing the rupee fall, bank run and panic in the market. Meanwhile, he has been credited for proposing the idea of the Benazir Income Support Programme, a Pakistani government aid program to provide financial assistance to low-income families which is said to be one of the largest in South Asia. Dar claimed that the original name of the organisation proposed was Pakistan Income Support Programme but that it was renamed by PPP for political gains after he stepped down form the ministerial office. In 2011 Dar was decorated with Nishan-e-Imtiaz, the highest civil award given to Pakistani nationals, for his parliamentary service in Pakistan. However, he refused to receive it from the then-President, Asif Ali Zardari. Dar was re-elected to the Senate for the third time in the 2012 senate election, for six years as a candidate of PML-N on technocrat seat from Punjab after which he was appointed by Nawaz Sharif as the Parliamentary Leader of the PML-N in the Senate. A few days later he was elected as the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, replacing Abdul Ghafoor Haideri for his negotiation skills with PPP government on major issues. During his tenure as Member of the Senate, he remained member of the various Standing Committees of Senate such as defence and defence production, foreign affairs, Kashmir affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, commerce and finance, revenue, economic affairs, statistics, planning and development and privatisation. He also served as a member of the Special Committee on Constitutional Reforms, and co-prepared and passed the 18th, the 19th, and the 20th amendments to the Constitution of Pakistan. Post-ministerial parliamentary politics In February 2018, the name of Dar was shortlisted by PML-N amongst the candidate for March 2018 Senate election after which Dar filed his nomination papers for a general seat and a technocrat seat in the Senate. However the Election Commission of Pakistan rejected his nomination papers. On 17 February, Lahore High Court granted permission to Dar to participate in the Senate elections. On 22 February, the Election Commission of Pakistan declared all PML-N candidates for the Senate election as independent after a ruling of the Supreme Court. On 3 March 2018, he was re-elected to the Senate as an independent candidate on technocrat seat from Punjab with the backing by PML-N. On 12 March 2018, he ceased to hold the position of