Mahmood Khan Achakzai, who leads the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and serves as opposition leader in Pakistan's National Assembly, told reporters that former prime minister Imran Khan — currently held in detention — is facing pressure to accept terms comparable to the arrangements under which Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto each left the country, a television news outlet reported on Saturday.
Achakzai made the assertion during a news conference held outside the Peshawar High Court on Friday. He contended, as reported by a broadcast news outlet, that the current governing arrangement between PML-N and PPP mirrors the kind of political alignment he had described.
Broadcast coverage attributed those remarks to the periods Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto each spent abroad following turbulent turns in their respective political careers. Removed from power and placed in detention following a takeover led by army chief Pervez Musharraf, Sharif departed Pakistan in 2000 under an arrangement brokered with the involvement of Saudi and Lebanese leaders. Following her party's defeat in the 1997 general elections and her removal from office by President Farooq Leghari, Bhutto chose to leave Pakistan and live abroad. Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was held in detention on corruption-related charges before his release in 2004.
The parallel Achakzai drew pointed toward a view that a comparable arrangement might be applicable in Khan's situation. His remarks left unconfirmed whether any arrangement for the PTI founder to go into exile had been finalised.
These assertions surfaced against a backdrop of heightened political strain tied to Imran Khan — PTI's founding figure, currently held in detention — alongside opposition voices raising concerns about restrictions on party activity and the functioning of elected bodies.
Joining Achakzai at the gathering were Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, both holding leadership positions within the Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-Ayin-i-Pakistan, known by its initials TTAP. Talks among opposition parties were under way, with a gathering of multiple groups set to be convened in the near term, according to the statement.
Withdrawal from the assemblies remained under consideration, Achakzai noted, while also disclosing that the opposition had submitted its list of demands in response to a negotiation offer. His stated positions included a call for parliament to be granted greater authority and for an independent body to be established to oversee the integrity of the electoral process. He also told reporters, via a broadcast outlet described as reputable, that access to meetings is a right extended to detained individuals across the world.
His position held that settling political disagreements depended on strengthening parliament's institutional foundation. He raised questions about the whereabouts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister and other elected members, calling on authorities to provide that information. A statement from the group affirmed its solidarity with the people of the province, and Achakzai noted that residents of the province hold a claim to its mineral wealth that, under the terms being debated, would take precedence over outside interests.
Addressing the public, he urged people to rally around the country, arguing that its survival underpinned the safety of those living within it. At the news conference, Achakzai also raised objections to the limits placed on prisoners' ability to meet with visitors and urged revision of what he characterised as a flawed legislative amendment.
Mengal, travelling alongside Achakzai, took issue with how authorities had handled matters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and raised doubts about whether invoking governor's rule on terrorism grounds was justified. He contended that duly chosen officeholders had been removed from their posts and cast doubt on whether the governing structure itself held legitimate standing.
In remarks aired by a television channel, Senate opposition leader Raja Nasir Abbas questioned the governing arrangement, noting that parties now holding power over a province had yet to demonstrate they were equipped to govern the country at large.
On Friday, TTAP leaders filed a petition before the Peshawar High Court contesting both the emergency declaration and the imposition of governor's rule across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Petitioners asked the court to declare that the 11 October proclamation — drawn from Articles 232(1) and 234 of Pakistan's Constitution — held no valid legal footing and exceeded the limits of constitutional authority, according to media reports.
Their position held that the constitutional thresholds for activating such measures had not been satisfied, or alternatively that the authorities had acted beyond the boundaries of their lawful mandate. Among the grievances set out in the petition were three institutional concerns: that law-making authority belonging to the provincial assembly had been transferred to parliament, that the sitting chief minister and cabinet had been removed from office, and that two new bodies — the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Advisory Council and the Area Development Secretariat — had been put forward for creation.
The petitioners called on the court to invalidate both the executive orders and the official notifications that had grown out of the proclamation, including the deployment of armed forces, which they contended exceeded constitutional limits. Alongside that filing, the petitioners sought a temporary order barring any removal of democratically chosen governing bodies and any restrictions placed on the authority of sitting elected officials during the period of judicial review.
The legal challenge forms part of Achakzai's broader campaign to bring opposition parties together around constitutional matters, political rights, and negotiations with the government, a campaign that sits within a larger pattern of pushback against federal intervention in the province.
