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ISLAMABAD: PTI Senator Ali Zafar said on Monday that Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani had communicated to him that Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas would be notified as the opposition leader in the upper house of Parliament by tomorrow (Tuesday).<\/p>\n
Zafar told Dawn<\/em> that he had submitted a letter to the Senate chairperson on Monday, seeking the appointment of Abbas to the slot that has been lying vacant since August 2025.<\/p>\n According to the PTI senator, Gilani had accepted the opposition\u2019s demand of appointing Abbas to the vacant position and said that an announcement about his appointment would also be made in the House.<\/p>\n The opposition leader\u2019s posts in the Senate and the National Assembly (NA) had fallen vacant in August 2025, following the disqualification<\/u><\/a> of PTI\u2019s Shibli Faraz and Omar Ayub, respectively. The two were disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan after their convictions in cases rela\u00adted to the May 9, 2023 riots.<\/p>\n The PTI had then nominated <\/u><\/a>Abbas as its candidate for the opposition leader\u2019s position in the Senate and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai to fill the NA slot. After a months-long delay, Achakzai was notified<\/a> as the NA opposition leader last week.<\/p>\n In his letter to Gilani, seen by Dawn<\/em>, Senator Zafar recalled that the PTI had \u201cduly nominated the honourable Senator Mr Raja Nasir Abbas for the post of the leader of the opposition in the Senate of Pakistan\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe continued non-appointment of the leader of the opposition is not only inconsistent with the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012, but also runs contrary to well-established democratic traditions and parliamentary conventions,\u201d the letter read.<\/p>\n It added that the \u201copposition is an indispensable pillar of any democratic system. A House without a formally recognised leader of the opposition remains institutionally incomplete, and its ability to perform its constitutional role of oversight, accountability, and meaningful debate is seriously undermined\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cParliamentary democracy rests upon the balance between the treasury and the opposition benches. Denial or delay in recognising the duly nominated leader of the opposition weakens democratic norms, erodes parliamentary decorum, and sets an undesirable precedent inconsistent with constitutional values and democratic practice.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is, therefore, once again respectfully requested that, in accordance with Rule 16(3) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012, Senator Raja Nasir Abbas may kindly be appointed as leader of the opposition in the Senate of Pakistan at the earliest, in the larger interest of parliamentary democracy and the proper functioning of this august House,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n