Imran flips stance, asks Junaid Akbar to stay on as PAC chairman

• Aleema Khan relays Imran Khan's message to leadership.
• Earlier PTI founder said he wants Akbar to focus on KP.
• Omar Ayub was tipped to take over PAC chairmanship.

In a U-turn, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has now asked party leader Junaid Akbar to continue as Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman after earlier directing him to resign, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan confirmed on Tuesday.

Just hours earlier, Akbar, who is also the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa PTI president, had said he had submitted his resignation to Gohar, describing the post as a trust handed to him by the party. 

“Whatever decision the PTI founder takes, I will accept it,” he had told reporters.

Later in the day, Barrister Gohar confirmed that Imran Khan had asked Akbar to carry on as PAC chairman. 

“The PTI founder has asked Junaid Akbar to continue working as PAC head,” he said, calling it an internal party matter and expressing hope the issue would be resolved soon.

Meanwhile, Khan’s sister Aleema told Geo News that the family had met him recently and delivered his message about Akbar to Secretary General Salman Akram Raja and senior leader Omar Ayub.

Earlier reports suggested that Imran Khan had directed Akbar to step down from the PAC post to focus fully on party affairs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 

Akbar had been elected PAC chairman unopposed in January while also replacing CM Ali Amin Gandapur as PTI’s provincial president — a dual role that some party insiders believed was proving difficult to balance. 

Speculation has swirled that Omar Ayub could be tapped as the next PAC chairman.