Critics say opposition leader’s appointment may be timed to come ahead of PTI’s February 8 show
ISLAMABAD:
After months of drift, when the National Assembly finally regained a formal opposition voice last Friday with the notification of Mahmood Khan Achakzai as opposition leader, the move ended a deadlock that had paralyzed the lower house for more than five months.
However, the event also immediately reframed the political conversation: was this simply a procedural closure or the first sign of a broader recalibration aimed at taking opposition politics off the streets and into Parliament?
Achakzai’s appointment, made in the wake of the appointment of jailed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, raised an inevitable question about timing and intent.
What, critics asked, finally prompted National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq to act now, when a similar request by the PTI in October had been rejected? The proximity of the decision to the protest planned by the PTI for February 8 only heightened the speculation.
Rumors quickly emerged that three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had quietly intervened, pushing the government to approve the appointment. The Speaker of the National Assembly, however, publicly dismissed such claims, saying that Nawaz Sharif had given him full decision-making authority and insisting that Achakzai’s appointment was his own decision.
However, Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar hinted at a broader internal process, telling a private news channel that party decisions are made through consultations and that Nawaz Sharif has the final authority.
As debate over the agency and timing continues, political sources told The Express PAkGazette that the appointment of opposition leaders in both the National Assembly and the Senate was part of a broader understanding between the government and opposition parties aimed at easing institutional paralysis.
If Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz members are to be believed, Achakzai’s rise is aimed at moving the PTI away from street agitation and back into parliamentary politics.
A senior PML-N leader confirmed there was a broader understanding that Achakzai would help bring the PTI back into the parliamentary fold, adding that the government would welcome a more active and structured opposition within Parliament.
The timing of the notification is generally considered significant as it came just weeks before the PTI’s planned protest on February 8. However, the government hopes that Achakzai, who has also been tasked by Imran Khan to lead the opposition, will convince the PTI to move away from street politics.
A senior PML-N leader and close confidant of Nawaz Sharif confirmed this assessment.
Senator Pervaiz Rasheed told The Express PAkGazette that a positive outcome of the appointment of an opposition leader was that the parliamentary deadlock would come to an end.
He said the second wheel of the parliamentary system in the form of the leader of the opposition had finally been installed, allowing Parliament to function smoothly. According to him, both the ethical requirements and the constitutional needs of Parliament have now been met, which, according to him, deserves recognition.
Rasheed further said that as opposition leader, Mahmood Khan Achakzai’s responsibility would be to curb the PTI’s dependence on agitation, street protests and marches towards D-Chowk, and bring the party back to Parliament.
He said Achakzai would bring them into the parliamentary fold and work to train and reform their political culture. Rasheed, who described Achakzai as a lifelong democrat, said that in his new role he would explain to the opposition that politics and democracy work through political parties, and that political parties must recognize each other.
He added that Achakzai would teach them to stay away from agitation-driven politics and not wait for “the finger of an umpire.”
Rasheed also said he agreed with the prime minister’s position on dialogue and emphasized that political parties must participate in the debate. With the country facing terrorism and difficult economic decisions ahead, he said the first priority should be to bring politics back to 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 warned that the move alone was unlikely to take the PTI off the streets.
A meaningful compromise, he said, would require the government to acknowledge past actions against the PTI and acknowledge what the party views as a denial of its democratic rights. The PTI, he stressed, will not abandon protest politics based solely on an appointment.
Addressing Senator Kamran Murtaza’s claims of direct contact between Nawaz Sharif and Achakzai, Yousafzai dismissed the suggestion as false and attributed it to the political rivalry between the two in Balochistan. He said there had been no contact between the former prime minister and Achakzai since the 2024 election.
While ruling out a direct engagement between Nawaz Sharif and Achakzai, Yousafzai confirmed that Rana Sanaullah, a close aide of Nawaz Sharif, had approached Achakzai after the appointment to congratulate him and renew an offer of dialogue; an approach he suggested probably met with Nawaz Sharif’s approval.
However, he emphasized that Imran Khan remains the central decision-making figure of the PTI. “Until he realizes it, we cannot establish contact,” he said, adding that the party was proceeding cautiously and had repeatedly stressed that Achakzai and Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, nominated as leader of the opposition in the Senate, should meet to move things forward.
