Imran Khan loyalist quits top oversight role on his orders

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Junaid Akbar has resigned from his post, reportedly on the directions of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan.

Akbar confirmed the move to reporters at Parliament House on Tuesday, saying the PAC position was a trust given to him by Imran Khan, but it held no personal value for him.

“Positions are not important to me,” Akbar said. “That is why I have submitted my resignation from the post of chairman PAC to PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, because the order of Imran Khan is the most important to me.”

He added that if Imran Khan asked him to, he would also resign from his role as PTI president in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Akbar said he submitted his resignation to Barrister Gohar as a precaution, so it could be confirmed with Khan before being sent to the National Assembly Secretariat.

“I have written in my resignation that I am leaving the post of Public Accounts Committee,” he said. “I did not receive confirmation of Imran Khan’s message, but I resigned so that it would not be given the impression that this post is important to me.”

“If Imran Khan wants, he can take this post from me, take my provincial presidency or membership — all these are not important to me,” he added.

Meanwhile, Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan told reporters outside Adiala Jail after meeting her brother that he had left the final decision to Junaid Akbar.

“Imran Khan has said that I will leave the decision to Junaid Akbar as to which seat he wants to hold,” Aleema Khan told the media. “My focus is on organizing and movement. If Junaid Akbar can hold the PAC and party posts together, then of course he should hold the PAC post — but Junaid Akbar should focus 100 percent on the movement.”

Just days ago, two of Imran Khan’s sisters met him in Adiala Jail. According to Aleema, during that visit, Khan instructed Akbar to resign from the PAC chairmanship and named Opposition Leader Omar Ayub as his preferred replacement.

The resignation has not yet been formally submitted to the National Assembly Secretariat. The PTI has not issued an official statement confirming a new nominee for PAC chair.