Imran nominates Achakzai in NA, Swati in Senate as opposition leaders

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf patron-in-chief Imran Khan has nominated Mahmood Khan Achakzai, whom he had once mimicked back in 2014, for the slot of leader of opposition in the National Assembly.

Achakzai was first named head of the opposition parties’ alliance — Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan and has been now nominated by the PTI supremo to be the leader of the opposition.

This development comes days after PTI’s senior leader Omar Ayub Khan, who was leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, was de-notified as such, following his conviction by an anti-terrorism court and subsequent disqualification by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) early this month.

Talking to the media outside the Supreme Court of Pakistan here, Secretary General PTI Salman Akram Raja confirmed that Imran Khan has nominated Mahmood Khan Achakzai as the opposition leader in the National Assembly in place of Omar Ayub, while Azam Swati as the opposition leader in the Senate in place of Shibli Faraz. Shibli Faraz had also met a similar fate recently.

However, Salman Akram said Imran Khan had left the decision to participate in the by-elections to the PTI political committee.

Initially, Imran’s sister Aleema Khan had told the media outside the Adiala jail that her brother had decided no candidate of his party would run in the by-elections on the seats, which were ‘snatched’ from them. As regards the Punjab Assembly, Salman Akram said that Imran Khan asked for five names for the opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, out of which he will choose one himself, who will be nominated as the opposition leader in the provincial assembly. PTI’s opposition leader Ahmad Khan Bachar was also disqualified and then de-notified as leader of the opposition in Punjab Assembly.