PTI renews push for NA opp leader
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) made a fresh request to National Assembly speaker to appoint Mehmood Khan Achakzai as leader of the opposition in the lower house of Parliament after the party said it addressed objections raised by Ayaz Sadiq.
National Assembly has been without opposition leader since August 2025 when Omar Ayub was disqualified as member of the National Assembly after being convicted in the May 9 case.
Few weeks later, jailed PTI leader Imran Khan nominated Achakzai for the position of opposition leader.
As per rules, it is the National Assembly speaker who has the powers to appoint leader of the opposition.
Ayaz Sadiq, however, refused to entertain PTI request, citing pending cases against Omar Ayub.
Now, in a latest development, PTI's senior leader and Chief Whip Amir Dogar wrote to Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, confirming that the legal case before the Peshawar High Court concerning the disqualification of former opposition leader Omar Ayub had been withdrawn.
A copy of the letter dated December 31, 2025 available with The Express Tribune here on Thursday states that all legal impediments were removed and hence leader of the opposition be appointed without any further delay.
Following this development, the opposition in the National Assembly formally requested the Speaker to issue a notification confirming Achakzai's appointment, emphasizing that all hurdles had now been removed.
The letter came in response to an earlier communication from the speaker's office, dated December 29, which tied the declaration of the opposition leader to the ongoing court proceedings.
This was the fourth letter exchanged between Speaker Sadiq and Dogar on the issue, with the former maintaining that the matter remained "sub judice".
According to a statement from the National Assembly Secretariat, previous letters on this subject were sent on November 19, December 5, and December 19, 2025.
The position of opposition leader became vacant in August 2025 when the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified then-opposition leader Omar Ayub following his conviction in cases related to the May 9 riots.
Subsequently, Imran khan nominated Achakzai as the candidate and PTI formally requested his appointment in October 2025.
When Achakzai was nominated by the opposition, former NA opposition leader Omar Ayub Khan filed legal petitions in court challenging his disqualification and related procedural aspects.
These cases were pending before the court and were cited by the speaker's office as a reason not to issue the formal notification for Achakzai's appointment.
The National Assembly speaker repeatedly told opposition delegations that the matter was sub judice and thus he could not finalize the appointment.
Now, Chief Whip Amir Dogar's letter effectively shifts responsibility back to the Speaker's office, as the opposition maintains that all procedural and legal requirements for notification have been met.
Achakzai, chief of Pakhtoonkhwa Mili Awami Party, is also head of the grand opposition alliance, which has been tasked with initiating talks with the government.