JUIF agrees on Achakzai as opposition leader in NA

ISLAMABAD: The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) leadership agreed on the nomination of veteran politician Mahmood Khan Achakzai as the opposition leader in the National Assembly late Tuesday night. 

The decision to nominate Achakzai was taken in a meeting between JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and a PTI delegation at the former’s residence. The development also ended speculation that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, in a meeting with Fazl on Monday, had offered his party’s support if Fazl agreed to be nominated as the opposition leader.

Later, Fazl clarified that the issue was neither discussed with the PPP delegation nor was he interested in the position.

The PTI delegation that visited Fazl’s residence on Tuesday night also sought JUI-F’s support for an election on a vacant Senate seat from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, according to a statement issued by a JUI-F spokesman on Wednesday. The PTI delegation comprised former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, PTI Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa President Junaid Akbar and Shahram Tarakai. JUI-F leaders Maulana Salahuddin Ayubi, Jalaluddin Advocate and Maulana Asjad Mahmood were also present on the occasion.

Fazl also agreed with the PTI’s proposal to convene a National Jirga to maintain law & order and peace in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The two sides also discussed other matters relating to national politics and the regional situation, the spokesman said.

PTI leaders and members of the National Assembly—Asad Qaiser, Chief Whip Malik Amir Dogar, Prince Nawaz Khan Alai and Shahram Tarakai—held a joint press conference in Islamabad on October 21, announcing that the party had formally submitted a request for the appointment of Mahmood Khan Achakzai as Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly. The opposition leader’s seat had fallen vacant following the disqualification of Omar Ayub as a Member of the National Assembly.

In a related development, PTI leader and Secretary General of the Tehreek Tahafuz Aiyeen-e-Pakistan, Asad Qaiser, briefed Mahmood Khan Achakzai on Wednesday about his meeting with Fazl a day earlier. Both leaders discussed the overall political situation, including prospects for expanding the opposition alliance and forging a working relationship with other parties. PTI, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Balochistan National Party-Mengal and Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen are part of the six-party alliance.

According to TTAP spokesman Hussain Ahmad Yousafzai, the opposition alliance chairman was briefed about the Asad Qaiser-led delegation’s meeting with Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday night.

In the meeting, Achakzai and Asad Qaiser expressed deep concern over the failure of talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan and stressed that all issues between the two countries, especially security matters, should be resolved through peaceful negotiations. They stated that war and conflict could not solve any problem for Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Achakzai supported the establishment of a peace Jirga in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and said the opposition alliance would participate fully in it. Hussain Ahmad said that public gatherings would be organised across the country under the auspices of the alliance in November, a plan which had been finalised.

On this occasion, the leaders strongly condemned the solitary confinement of PTI founder chairman Imran Khan and demanded that his rights be immediately restored under the Constitution and that he be brought out of isolation.