KARACHI / HYDERABAD: Only hours after being appointed Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Mahmood Khan Achakzai on Friday embarked on his first political engagement in the new role under the banner of the Tehreek Tahafuz-i-Ayeen Pakistan (TTAP).

He, along with a high-profile delegation, arrived in Karachi for a four-day tour of Sindh to mobilise the masses for a nationwide strike and protest rallies scheduled for February 8.

The delegation comprises Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, Akhunzada Hussain Ahmed Yousafzai, Asad Qaiser, Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry (Pakistan Teh­reek Insaf founder Imran Khan’s counsel.

“The delegation was received by party leaders and workers at the Jinnah International Airport. The Sindh visit formally began on Friday and is primarily focused on preparations for the February 8 protests planned across the country,” said a statement issued by Akhunzada Hussain Ahmed Yousafzai, the TTAP spokesman.

Mahmood Achakzai, Allama Nasir Abbas, Asad Qaiser and others will attend G.M. Syed’s birth anniversary programme in Sann

He said that the TTAP believes that the demonstrations and strike are intended to safeguard people’s constitutional rights. The aim is to organise public resistance against the “worsening political situation and erosion of democratic norms,” he said.

Sources privy to the schedule of TTAP engagements said that the opposition leaders would attend 122nd birth anniversary of veteran Sindh nationalist leader G. M. Syed, in Sann on Saturday.

TTAP Vice President and Sindh United Party (SUP) chief Syed Zain Shah confirmed that Achakzai, Raja Nasir Abbas, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Asad Qaiser and others would reach Sann on Saturday (today) to attend the birth anniversary celebrations of G. M. Syed, Zain Shah’s paternal grandfather.

TTAP leaders are also to visit Hyderabad city on Saturday evening after arriving at PTI’s Latifabad office, Insaf House

PTI Sindh chief Haleem Adil Shaikh said that the TTAP leadership doesn’t have any political commitment other than Sann event. “In Hyderabad, they would only have dinner before returning to Karachi,” he added.

The birth anniversary would be organised by the SUP, founded by Zain Shah’s ailing cousin Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, who is a former (2006) deputy speaker of the Sindh Assembly. Three programmes in connection with anniversary would also be held in Sann the same day.

Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz-Bashir (JSQM-B) led by Sanan Qureshi would hold its programme as per an already announced schedule. Jeay Sindh Rahbar Committee, a conglomerate of four nationalist parties — JSQM-Shaheed Bashir, Jeay Sindh Qaum Parast Party (JSQP), Bashir Jamali’s Jeay Sindh Tehreek (JST) and Riaz Chandio-led Jeay Sindh Mahaz-Riaz (JSM-R).

JSQM-Arisar would also hold its separate programme. JSQM-Shaheed Bashir is a breakaway faction of JSQM created by Dr Niaz Kalani after splitting from JSQM-Bashir.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2026