Amid mounting criticism over the delay in the opposition leader’s appointment, the National Assembly (NA) Secretariat has sent a letter to PTI Chief Whip Malik Aamir Dogar, seeking details about the status of cases concerning PTI’s Omar Ayub.

The letter says that the provision of the details in writing is necessary for the completion of the process for the appointment of an opposition leader in the lower house of Parliament.

Ayub, who had been the opposition leader in the Senate until his disqualification in August by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in connection with his conviction in the May 9 cases, had challenged his de-seating by the electoral body in the Supreme Court.

The PTI had nominated Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai for the role following Ayub’s disqualification, but his notification remains pending.

And while NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq has maintained regarding the delay in the appointment of a new opposition leader for the house that the matter is “sub judice” — apparently a reference to Ayub’s appeal against it disqualification — the PTI leader has withdrawn his plea from the SC.

The letter written to Dogar, which is dated December 5, stated that the opposition had mentioned in Parliament that Ayub’s cases were not sub judice.

“However, this fact was not conveyed to the secretariat in writing,” the letter said, requesting that the current status of the cases in which the secretariat had been made a party be communicated to it in writing for the completion of the “prescribed process of the declaration of leader of the opposition in the National Assembly”.