OPPOSITION politics are Mehmood Khan Achakzai’s bread and butter. The scion of a political legacy steeped in anti-establishment and nationalist politics, he has seen dictators and democratically elected governments come and go, but has invariably always found himself on the opposition benches.

This is perhaps due to his baptism of fire: the young Mehmood Khan was a fresh graduate of UET, Peshawar, when his father, Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai, was assassinated in December 1973.

Since Abdul Samad was a sitting MPA in Balochistan, Mehmood Khan was seen as the natural successor to contest the by-election, and was handed the reins of the party his father founded after parting ways with that opposition powerhouse, the National Awami Party (NAP).

The nascent Pakhtunkhwa National Awami Party was just a few years old when Mehmood Khan had to put aside his grief and run for office.

But this was no ordinary political contest. Some political observers at the time had painted it as a contest between then-Afghan president Daoud Khan and Pakistan’s then-prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Heir to Abdul Samad’s legacy

This was because the Afghan ruler opposed his father’s idea of forming a separate Pashtun-majority province in Pakistan, as it clashed with his vision of a ‘Greater Pashtunistan’, and saw the ascendency of Abdul Samad’s son as a threat to his plans.

Abdul Samad Achakzai had parted ways with NAP when, following the abolition of the One-Unit policy in 1970, it accepted the merger of ‘British Balochistan’ with the Brahui confederacy, to form the map of Balochistan as it stands today.

Abdul Samad was a proponent of a united Pashtun province, to be formed by merging the Pakhtun areas in the south with what was then the NWFP.

Although the mystery surrounding his assassination was never satisfactorily solved, many believe that it was his demand for the unification of Pakhtun lands that cost Abdul Samad his life.

In January 1974, just days before his maiden electoral contest, Mehmood Khan received a message saying that a senior Afghan official wanted to meet him. Accordingly, he travelled to a village near the Chaman border alongside two companions — one of whom had been his martyred father’s deputy.

There, they were met by the Governor of Kandahar, who tried to prevail on the young man to abandon his father’s legacy and rejoin NAP.

Although the account has doubtlessly been embellished over time, the story goes that the novice Mehmood Khan showed remarkable courage and refused point-blank.

“This is the political legacy of my leader and father. It is the principled stance for which he was martyred. If President Daoud considers this a contest with Bhutto, then tell Daoud he has already lost,” he reportedly told the official.

No stranger to opposition politics

Born in the village of Inayatullah Karez, in Gulistan, Qilla Abdullah (which was part of the Quetta-Pishin district at the time), Mehmood Khan has played a central role in shaping and leading various opposition political movements in Pakistan, consistently standing for democratic rights, the Constitution and federalism.

Under the Ziaul Haq regime, he was an active member of the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD), allying with progressive and democratic forces to resist military rule.

In 1983, while leading an anti-martial law agitation in Quetta, he and his companions came under direct fire from the authorities. Although he survived — thanks to his companions who shielded him from the bullets — many of his supporters were killed, injured or arrested.

In the late 1990s, he co-founded the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement, bringing together nationalist parties from smaller provinces to fight for provincial autonomy and equal rights within the federation.

Later, as part of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), he joined the political forces opposing Pervez Musharraf’s military regime.

More recently, he became a prominent figure in the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which came together to unseat former PM Imran Khan through a vote of no-confidence in 2022.

However, he quickly became disillusioned with his allies and, following the 2024 general elections, began siding with the ‘persecuted’ PTI.

Having consistently decried the latest polls as being less than free, fair and transparent, he became one of the leading lights of the Tehreek-i-Tahaffuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP), the alliance that currently dominates opposition politics in the country.

A historic appointment

Mr Achakzai is the first politician from Balochistan to assume the office of leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. His nomination came as a surprise for many political observers, who had earlier been claiming that he was unlikely to be appointed to the position as he was not in the good books of the powers-that-be.

Several political analysts commend Mr Achakzai for showing political magnanimity by supporting the PTI after the 2024 elections, despite having been subjected to public criticism and personal attacks by PTI founder Imran Khan in the past.

During the 126-day sit-in led by Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri against the PML-N government in 2014, Mr Achakzai had aligned himself with the Sharif-led administration.

Later, he remained part of the ruling coalition under two successive PML-N governments but declined ministerial positions or other high-profile offices. During the 2013–18 PML-N tenure, his brother, Mohammad Khan Achakzai, served as governor of Balochistan.

Known for his hard-hitting speeches, Mr Achakzai has often faced media blackouts, both under the current government and during the previous National Assembly when the PTI was in power.

Now that he has been appointed opposition leader – who traditionally enjoys the privilege of getting the floor any time during assembly proceedings – it remains to be seen what approach the government will adopt toward coverage of his speeches.

Amir Wasim in Islamabad also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2026