The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has officially moved to appoint veteran politician Mahmood Khan Achakzai as the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, a significant development aimed at strengthening its parliamentary position. The party on Tuesday lodged a formal application with the office of Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to initiate the appointment.
The petition was endorsed with the signatures of 74 PTI-backed legislators. According to the party, all its members of the National Assembly currently in the country have signed the nomination, with only three members-Ali Afzal Sahi, Umar Farooq, and Sahibzada Sultan-unable to do so as they are travelling abroad.
A spokesperson for the Tehreek Tahafuz Aeen-e-Pakistan (Movement for the Protection of the Constitution of Pakistan) confirmed the submission of the document. In the absence of both the Speaker and the Secretary of the National Assembly, the application was received by Special Secretary Mushtaq Ahmed.
The request was formally presented by a delegation that included senior PTI leader Asad Qaiser, the party’s Chief Whip in the National Assembly Malik Amir Dogar, Tehreek Tahafuz Aeen-e-Pakistan spokesperson Hussain Ahmad Yousafzai, and Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry, the counsel for PTI founder Imran Khan.
This strategic move underscores PTI’s renewed engagement in parliamentary politics. By backing Mr. Achakzai, who heads the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), the PTI aims to position him as a unifying figure capable of leading a consolidated opposition bloc within the lower house of parliament.