Omar Ayub Khan Appointed as Leader of Opposition

In Pakistan’s National Assembly Following Imran Khan’s Ouster

Imprisoned former premier Imran Khan’s PTI and the Sunni Ittehad Council have jointly proposed his party colleague Omar Ayub Khan as the opposition leader in Pakistan’s National Assembly.

The PTI-SIC formalized the nomination by submitting his paperwork to the office of National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Saturday, as reported by the Dawn newspaper on Sunday.

Coincidentally, Omar Ayub Khan was also the combined candidate who was defeated by Imran Khan’s adversary Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party’s Shehbaz Sharif in the prime ministerial election last week.

Approximately 90 candidates from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf joined the SIC after winning as independent candidates in the February 8 general elections to secure reserved seats.

The nomination documents were submitted by Malik Amir Dogar in the presence of SIC chief Sahib­zada Hamid Raza, and national assembly members (MNAs) Ali Mohammad Khan, Riaz Fatyana, Dr Nisar Ahmad Jatt, and others, the newspaper reported.

Achakzai was the PTI-SIC’s candidate against Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) nominee Asif Ali Zardari, who was elected as the president on Saturday and took the oath on Sunday.

In response to a query, Dr Jatt expressed optimism that Ayub would be appointed as the opposition leader in the NA through nomination, rather than election, on March 13 or 14.

The opposition leader holds the rank of a federal minister and is provided with a separate office, where opposition parties typically conduct their meetings.