• Demands authorities disclose whereabouts of Sohail Afridi
• Mengal says those claiming to be framers of Constitution are ‘trampling it’
• TTAP alliance challenges governor’s rule, emergency before Peshawar High Court
PESHAWAR: PTI founder Imran Khan is being forced into an agreement, similar to those given to former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Mahmood Khan Achakzai claimed on Friday.
The opposition leader was referring to the arrangements whereby the two former PMs went into self-imposed exile following their respective ousters.
Mr Sharif, who was ousted and imprisoned following a military coup by then-army chief Pervez Musharraf, left the country in 2000 following a deal negotiated by Saudi and Lebanese leaders.
Benazir, meanwhile, voluntarily went into self-exile after her party lost the 1997 general elections following her dismissal by then-president Farooq Leghari. At the time, her husband Asif Zardari was imprisoned over corruption charges, and was finally released in 2004.
“The same is happening today with the PML-N and PPP in government,” Mr Achakzai said at a news conference at the Peshawar High Court (PHC).
He was accompanied by Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP) leaders Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas.
He said they were in contact with all opposition parties and would soon convene a multi-party conference. Resigning from the assemblies was also an option, he said, adding that they had submitted their demands in response to the offer of negotiations.
“Nowhere in the world is a prisoner denied meetings,” he said, calling for the withdrawal of the “wrong amendment”, empowerment of parliament and the formation of an independent commission to ensure transparent elections.
He said no problem could be resolved until parliament was empowered. Expressing concern over the whereabouts of the KP chief minister and other lawmakers, he demanded that the authorities disclose the chief minister’s whereabouts, calling it their constitutional right to know.
“We stand with the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The people of this province have the first right over its minerals. Regardless of political affiliation, everyone must unite for the homeland,” he said, adding that they would be safer if the country survived.
Mr Mengal said those claiming to be the framers of the Constitution were trampling on it. He questioned the imposition of governor’s rule in KP on the grounds of terrorism, asking whether military operations had improved or worsened conditions in Balochistan.
He said KP’s elected chief minister had been removed, while the provincial assembly speaker and a minister were missing. Those who had won the general elections on Form 47 had become members of the National Assembly, he alleged, adding that the system could not continue this way.
Raja Nasir Abbas, the opposition leader in the Senate, said lawlessness had reached its peak. “You cannot run a country, yet you have occupied a province,” he told reporters, adding that a cabinet member had himself acknowledged that the system had collapsed.
TTAP challenges governor’s rule
Meanwhile on Friday, TTAP leaders challenged the proclamation of emergency and imposition of governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before the
PHC, seeking to have the measures declared unconstitutional and illegal.
The constitutional petition was jointly filed by TTAP Chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Vice Chairman Senator Raja Nasir Abbas, Balochistan National Party-Mengal chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party leader Syed Zainul Abideen through Advocates Muazzam Butt and Baseem Ahmad Siddiqui.
The court was requested to declare the Oct 11 proclamation of emergency, issued under Articles 232(1) and 234 of the Constitution, unconstitutional and without lawful authority, arguing that the required constitutional conditions had not been met or that the measures exceeded the powers conferred by the Constitution.
They challenged the purported transfer of the KP Assembly’s legislative powers to parliament and the displacement of the elected chief minister and provincial cabinet. They also sought the annulment of executive orders and notifications that depended on the validity of the proclamation.
The petitioners also challenged the establishment of the purported KP Advisory Council and Area Development Secretariat, arguing that these bodies could not exercise powers beyond those conferred by the Constitution or replace established provincial institutions.
They questioned any purported suspension of constitutional provisions, including Article 175(3), unless expressly authorised by the Constitution.
The petitioners sought annulment of the Oct 11 notification concerning the deployment of armed forces in the province to the extent where it violated Article 245, failed to meet constitutional requirements or exceeded the scope of the provision.
They also sought directions to ensure that elected representatives and constitutionally established institutions in KP were not unlawfully prevented from performing their functions and that no elected representative was detained or restrained except in accordance with the Constitution.
Pending a final decision, they sought interim relief to suspend or restrain the impugned measures to prevent the displacement of elected institutions, transfer of legislative authority, creation of parallel executive structures or other irreparable harm, subject to the court’s assessment of constitutional requirements and public safety.
Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2026