PTI chief whip submits documents pertaining to Omar Ayub’s cases to NA speaker

Opposition leader’s appointment

ISLAMABAD: PTI Chief Whip Amir Dogar, shared with National Assembly (NA) Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Monday documents pertaining to the withdrawal of cases concerning PTI’s Omar Ayub and again demanded Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Chairperson Mehmood Khan Achakzai’s appointment as the opposition leader.
The development comes around a month after the NA Secretariat sent a letter to Dogar, seeking details about the status of cases concerning Ayub.
The letter said the provision of the details in writing is necessary for the completion of the process for the appointment of an opposition leader in the lower house of Parliament.
According to a post on the NA’s X account, Dogar presented the documents to Sadiq on Monday, and the two also exchanged views on matters related to the appointment of the opposition leader.
Dogar “once again” demanded that the Achakzai be appointed as the opposition leader, the post said, adding that Ayaz gave the assurance that “everything will be done in accordance with the law and the constitution”.
The statement further quoted Ayaz as saying that he would share information with the house on the matter at the next NA session.
“The process for the appointment of the opposition leader will be initiated afresh,” he said, adding that the rules of the NA regarding the appointment of the opposition leader were clear.
The post of the opposition leader in the NA has been vacant since the disqualification in August last year by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in connection with his conviction in the May 9 cases.
The same month, incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan had nominated Achakzai for the post of opposition leader and despite the PTI‘s insistence for his appointment, his notification remains pending.
Meanwhile, Ayub had challenged his disqualification in the Supreme Court (SC). But, he withdrew his plea in October last year.
For his part, Sadiq had maintained regarding the delay in the appointment of a new opposition leader that the matter was “sub judice” — apparently a reference to Ayub’s appeal against his disqualification.
In its letter to Dogar last month, the NA Secretariat stated that the opposition had mentioned in Parliament that Ayub’s cases were not sub judice.
“However, this fact was not conveyed to the secretariat in writing,” the letter said, requesting that the current status of the cases in which the secretariat had been made a party be communicated to it in writing for the completion of the “prescribed process of the declaration of leader of the opposition in the National Assembly”.
Earlier on Monday, NA Speaker Sadiq said that the opposition had not yet made formal contact for initiating talks with the government.
He made the remarks while speaking to the media, according to a handout issued by the NA Secretariat. It quoted him as saying that the “opposition had not yet made any formal contact to initiate a dialogue”.
“My role in the talks is only that of a facilitator,” he said. Staff Report