Achakzai's role: steering PTI back inside

Critics say opposition leader's appointment may be timed to pre-empt PTI's Feb 8 show

ISLAMABAD:

After months of drift, when the National Assembly last Friday finally reclaimed a formal opposition voice with the notification of Mahmood Khan Achakzai as Leader of the Opposition, the move ended a stalemate that had paralysed the lower house for over five months.

However, the development also immediately reframed the political conversation: was this merely procedural closure, or the first signal of a broader recalibration aimed at pulling opposition politics back from the streets and into Parliament?

Achakzai's appointment — made on the nomination of incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan — raised an unavoidable question about timing and intent.

What, critics asked, finally prompted National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to act now, when a similar request from PTI in October had been declined? The proximity of the decision to PTI's planned February 8 protest only sharpened speculation.

Rumours swiftly followed that three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had quietly intervened, nudging the government toward clearing the appointment. The NA speaker, however, publicly dismissed such claims, saying Nawaz Sharif had given him full authority to take decisions and insisting that Achakzai's appointment was his own call.

Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, nevertheless, hinted at a broader internal process, telling a private news channel that party decisions are taken through consultation and that Nawaz Sharif has the final authority.

As the debate over agency and timing continues, political sources told The Express Tribune that the appointment of opposition leaders in both the National Assembly and the Senate was part of a wider understanding between the government and opposition parties aimed at easing institutional paralysis.

If insiders in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz are to be believed, Achakzai's elevation is intended to draw PTI away from street agitation and back into parliamentary politics.

A senior PML-N leader confirmed that there was a broader understanding that Achakzai would help bring PTI back into the parliamentary fold, adding that the government would welcome a more active and structured opposition inside Parliament.

The timing of the notification is widely viewed as significant, coming just weeks before PTI's planned protest on February 8. The government, however, hopes that Achakzai — who has also been mandated by Imran Khan to lead the opposition — will persuade PTI to step back from street politics.

A senior PML-N leader and close confidant of Nawaz Sharif confirmed this assessment.

Senator Pervaiz Rasheed told The Express Tribune that a positive outcome of appointing a Leader of the Opposition was that the parliamentary stalemate would now come to an end.

He said the second wheel of the parliamentary system had finally been installed in the form of the Opposition Leader, enabling Parliament to function smoothly. According to him, both the ethical requirements and constitutional necessities of Parliament had now been fulfilled, a development he said deserved appreciation.

Rasheed further said that as Leader of the Opposition, Mahmood Khan Achakzai's responsibility would be to rein in PTI's reliance on agitation, street protests and marches to D-Chowk, and to bring the party back inside Parliament.

He said Achakzai would bring them into the parliamentary fold and work to train and reform their political culture. Describing Achakzai as a lifelong democrat, Rasheed said that in his new role he would explain to the opposition that politics and democracy function through political parties, and that political parties must acknowledge and recognise one another.

He added that Achakzai would teach them to stay away from agitation-driven politics and not to wait for an "umpire's finger".

Rasheed also said he agreed with the prime minister's position on dialogue, stressing that political parties must engage in discussion. With the country facing terrorism and difficult economic decisions ahead, he said the first priority should be to bring politics back into Parliament.

Will this bring PTI back from the streets?

TTAP spokesperson Akhunzada Hussain Yousafzai acknowledged that Achakzai's appointment could help restore normal parliamentary functioning, but cautioned that the move alone was unlikely to pull PTI off the streets.

Meaningful engagement, he said, would require the government to acknowledge past actions against PTI and recognise what the party views as the denial of its democratic rights. PTI, he stressed, would not abandon protest politics based solely on an appointment.

Addressing claims by Senator Kamran Murtaza of direct contact between Nawaz Sharif and Achakzai, Yousafzai dismissed the suggestion as false, attributing it to political rivalry between the two in Balochistan. He said there had been no contact between the former prime minister and Achakzai since the 2024 elections.

While ruling out direct Nawaz Sharif-Achakzai engagement, Yousafzai confirmed that Rana Sanaullah, a close aide to Nawaz Sharif, had reached out to Achakzai after the appointment to congratulate him and renew an offer for dialogue — an outreach he suggested likely carried Nawaz Sharif's approval.

However, he emphasised that Imran Khan remained the central figure in PTI's decision-making. "Until he is aware, we cannot make contact," he said, adding that the party was proceeding cautiously and had repeatedly stressed that Achakzai and Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, nominated for Senate opposition leader, should meet to move matters forward.