Opposition figure Mahmood Khan Achakzai has put forward the view that arrangements are under way to push Imran Khan toward a foreign exile arrangement of the kind that Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto each accepted in the past. The remarks from the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party's chairman were delivered before reporters gathered at the Peshawar High Court on Friday.

Achakzai named the PML-N and PPP as parties whose involvement in such political arrangements he considered a matter of fact. Those remarks arrived against a backdrop of heightened political friction surrounding PTI founder Khan, who remains held in detention, and drew a parallel to the periods of exile that both Sharif and Bhutto endured in earlier years.

Sharif was removed from power and placed under detention following a military takeover, with an arrangement facilitated by Saudi and Lebanese figures ultimately governing the transition out of the country. Following the 1997 electoral defeat of her party, Bhutto departed the country and spent a period living abroad.

At the same press conference, Achakzai raised the matter of detainees being unable to receive visits from family or others, and put forward a revision to what he described as a flawed provision. He also called for parliament to be granted greater authority alongside the creation of an independent body tasked with overseeing fair and transparent electoral processes.

Addressing reporters, Achakzai contended that prisoners elsewhere in the world retain the right to receive visitors — a point drawn from broadcast coverage — and added that parliamentary authority must be restored before any political deadlock can be broken.

Among those present at the press conference were Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, both holding leadership positions within Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP). Mengal put forward doubts about the use of terrorism-related justifications to impose governor's rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while also contending that elected representatives had been removed from their positions.

Abbas directed a remark at the governor stating that overseeing a province offers no reliable preparation for leading an entire country. Separately, TTAP leaders filed a legal challenge at the Peshawar High Court against the governor's conduct of affairs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Those filing the petition asked the court to find the 11 October proclamation — issued under Articles 232(1) and 234 — in violation of the constitution. The petitioners contended that the constitutional requirements for imposing those restrictions had either not been satisfied or that the authority granted had been overstepped.

The court filing added a legal dimension to Achakzai's effort to unite opposition parties around constitutional matters, political rights, and dialogue with the government, and also formed part of the broader pushback against federal involvement in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.