PTI-backed Allama Raja Nasir Abbas notified as Senate opposition leader

• Opposition leader post in Senate filled after Shibli Faraz's disqualification.
• Senate Secretariat issues notification declaring Raja Nasir opposition leader.
• PTI leader Zafar also wrote to Senate chairman about opposition leader.
  

Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday notified Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) chief and PTI-backed Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas as the opposition leader in the upper house of parliament.

“In pursuance of sub-rule (3) of Rule 16 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012, the chairman Senate has been pleased to declare Senator Raja Nasir Abbas as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, with immediate effect,” said a notification issued by the Senate Secretariat.

The post has been lying vacant since August last year, when the then-opposition leader in the upper house of the parliament, Shibli Faraz, was disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) following his conviction in cases related to riots on May 9, 2023.

The development came a week after Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai was appointed leader of the opposition in the National Assembly.

The PTI parliamentary leader in the Senate Ali Zafar, earlier, penned a letter to the Senate chairman, urging the appointment of a leader of the opposition in the upper house of the parliament.

Zafar said the office of the opposition leader was crucial in a parliamentary democracy, adding that the position was essential for effective governance, constitutional oversight and transparency in the parliamentary system.

A day earlier, Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said the MWM chief — an ally of the PTI — would be the opposition leader in the Senate.