Speaker Initiates Process for Appointment of Opposition Leader

Nominations due January 13 as NA prepares to name new opposition leader

By DTD- Last updated Jan 12, 2026

ISLAMABAD-(Mudassar Iqbal/News Desk)-Speaker of the National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Monday announced the initiation of the process for the appointment of a new Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly.

Addressing the House, the Speaker informed members that a case regarding the disqualification of the former opposition leader was under hearing at the Peshawar High Court, in which the National Assembly had been made a party. In this regard, the National Assembly Secretariat had written four letters to Chief Opposition Whip and MNA Malik Amir Dogar, seeking updates and relevant documents about the case.

The Speaker said that following the receipt of the required documents, the process for appointing the Leader of the Opposition had now been formally initiated. He read out Rule 39(2) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007, outlining the procedure for the nomination of the opposition leader.

Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq directed opposition members to submit their nominations for the post by Tuesday, January 13, by 3:00 pm. He added that verification and counting of signatures would be carried out on January 14, after which the appointment of the Leader of the Opposition would be formally announced.

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Earlier, a meeting of the National Assembly’s House Business Advisory Committee was held under the chairmanship of Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq. The meeting discussed the agenda and duration of the 23rd session of the National Assembly and decided to continue the current session until Friday, January 23, 2026.

The committee agreed that legislation, Question Hour, and matters of public importance would be taken up during the session. Deputy Speaker Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah and Federal Minister for Law and Justice Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar also attended the meeting.

Federal Minister Khalid Hussain Magsi and MNAs Syed Naveed Qamar, Ijaz Hussain Jakhrani, Syed Hafeezuddin, Syed Ameen-ul-Haq, Ms. Nazhat Sadiq, Ms. Syeda Shehla Raza, Noor Alam Khan, and Sheikh Aftab were also present.