PTI's Saif accuses Achakzai, Raja Nasir of inaction on Imran's release

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif has said National Assembly Opposition Leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas have done nothing to secure the release of party founder Imran Khan from prison.

Speaking on Geo News programme Jirga, Saif said Raja Nasir, who heads the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen, was in contact with key figures in the establishment, but said those contacts were not aimed at securing Imran Khan's release. He did not name the figures.

He said Achakzai was unwilling to sit with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for negotiations on Imran Khan's behalf. Saif said the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief had obtained a seat he had lost with the help of PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, yet was not prepared to engage with the prime minister on the PTI founder's case.

Saif also said Achakzai had gone to Quetta at a crucial stage of the negotiation process. According to Saif, Imran Khan had made Achakzai opposition leader so that he could engage with the government, but he was doing nothing for the PTI founder.

Saif said Achakzai had contacted Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to secure his son's release, drawing a contrast with the PTI founder's case.

Turning again to Raja Nasir, Saif said Raja Nasir's thinking was "limited to the deputy commissioner, tehsildar and patwari", adding that former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur had helped him become a senator. Gandapur is a PTI leader.

Geo News broadcast the programme and published an account of Saif's remarks. Daily Times and Minute Mirror carried the same claims, describing them as allegations levelled against the two opposition leaders.

None of the three reports quoted Achakzai or Raja Nasir, and no response from either leader to Saif's remarks was available.