PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said on Monday that the party would not remove Mahmood Khan Achakzai from his post, and that there had been no discussion of replacing him with JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman as opposition leader in the National Assembly. He made the remarks while speaking to a news channel at Parliament House in Islamabad.
Gohar said party founder Imran Khan had complete confidence in Achakzai, and that the party itself had no authority to decide whether to accept the opposition leader. “We accept the PTI founder’s decision and will move forward accordingly,” he said.
Imran Khan’s decision on the opposition leader post
Gohar said party members were free to share their views internally, but once a decision was taken, everyone accepted it. He said the choice of opposition leader rested with Imran, who had named Achakzai and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas as leaders and asked the party to work under their guidance.
Neither opposition leader had been disrespected, Gohar said. Everything was moving forward at Imran’s discretion, he added, and said: “If there had to be a ‘minus’, it would have happened by now.” He also argued that Imran could not be sidelined, claiming that 90% of the nation still stood with him.
Arrested lawmakers and a show-cause notice
Gohar said he had spoken to National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq about production orders for 10 arrested parliamentarians. He named lawmakers Adil Bazai and Chaudhry Imtiaz as among those detained, and said the speaker had been informed of the arrests.
He also confirmed that Mishal Yousafzai had been issued a show-cause notice, which he described as an internal party matter. In separate remarks on Adiala Road in Rawalpindi, Gohar claimed that the demand for a meeting with Imran had led to the imposition of governor’s rule. He said PTI had joined talks with the government unconditionally and opposed terrorism in all its forms.
Describing the outcome of the talks with an Urdu proverb, Gohar said the party had gone to have its prayers answered but ended up having to fast. He added that PTI had governed only one province, and that this too had been taken away from it.
Talks, National Action Plan and a disputed flag statement
Gohar said political interests should not be protected under the cover of fighting terrorism, and that PTI still wanted the National Action Plan implemented. “The government has done what it wanted to do. It should now reverse it,” he said.
He rejected claims that PTI’s negotiating committee was taking instructions from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying he was unaware of any mention of consulting Murad Saeed during the negotiations. He repeated that Fazlur Rehman had not been discussed as opposition leader.
Gohar also recalled meeting Imran three times on November 25, 2024, in the morning, afternoon and night. During one of those meetings, he spoke by phone with former KP chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur, who asked Imran to record a video statement. Gohar said he later received a call from Adiala asking him to return because Imran wanted to record the video, and that he reached the jail at midnight.
According to Gohar, Imran wanted to offer condolences over the martyrdom of Rangers personnel in the video and had not refused to record it. However, Imran wanted the recording made on Gohar’s mobile phone to prevent any tampering. Gohar said his phone was with jail authorities, and the only device available for the recording belonged to them. Imran then asked Gandapur to stay where he was and told Gohar to return the following day.
Gohar further claimed that a statement attributed to now-dysfunctional KP chief minister Sohail Afridi about Pakistan’s flag had been generated using artificial intelligence.
