PTI appoints Haleem Adil as opposition leader in Sindh Assembly in place of Naqvi

After Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) senior leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi tendered his resignation as the opposition Leader in the Sindh Assembly, the PTI’s central leadership has appointed Haleem Adil Shaikh for the post.

Shaikh, who is also the PTI central vice president, is no longer the PTI’s parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly, as post he had before his nomination as the opposition leader of the provincial assembly.

Bilal Ghaffar, an MPA from Karachi, has been made the party’s parliamentary leader in Sindh the Assembly. Naqvi will formally resign from the post today (Monday) and submit his resignation to the Sindh Assembly speaker.

The PTI has also approached the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and the Grand Democratic Alliance - two major opposition parties in the provincial assembly and its allies in the Centre ­- to win their support for its nominee.

The News has learnt that the PTI has plans to give Naqvi an important position. Party sources said that a group of PTI MPAs had raised complaints to the party’s central leaders, particularly Prime Minister Imran Khan, against Naqvi for his harsh attitude towards them.

“A group of party’s MPAs had complained to premier Khan that it was difficult for them to work under Naqvi’s leadership in the provincial assembly,” an MPA told The News. Some of the analysts are linking the replacement of the opposition leader in the provincial assembly with Naqvi’s statements in September, in which he criticised the federal government for playing no role in resolving the city’s ongoing electricity and gas crises.

Naqvi was quoted as saying that “he would ensure Prime Minister Imran Khan, Energy Minister Omar Ayub and prime minister’s assistant on petroleum, Nadeem Babar, felt ‘ashamed’ that Karachi was facing a crisis of gas shortage.”

But later in the same evening, he posted an apology via his Twitter account. “I would like to apologise to all Insafians. My intention was to say I am going to complain about the energy minister and SSGC to the PM. On hearing the recording words are not exactly conveying that. My apologies to my leader. Who is the most committed & upright man I have met,” he tweeted.