Islamabad, Apr 2 (PTI) Pakistan's National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq Tuesday endorsed a major demand of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party by appointing its nominated leader Omar Ayub Khan as the Leader of the Opposition in the lower house.

According to a press release issued by the Assembly Secretariat, the development came after Omar along with PTI chief Gohar Khan and senior leader Amir Dogar met Sadiq.

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The Speaker declared Khan the Leader of the Opposition after the scrutiny process was completed under Rule 39 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the National Assembly.

The statement added that the deadline to submit nomination papers for the slot was till 6pm on Monday. No other candidates' nomination papers had been received by the stipulated time, it said.

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With the appointment, the phase of appointing the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly was completed.

The PTI supported Sunni Ittehad Council on March 9 had formally nominated Umar for the leader of the opposition by submitting his documents to the office of the speaker.

Leader of the opposition sits in front of the speaker on his left side and on the right side of the leader of the house. He enjoys the status of a federal minister and gets a separate office where usually opposition parties hold meetings.

He also gets the right to speak in response to the speech by the leader of the house or any leading member from the government.

It may be noted that after the February 8 elections, all independent members elected with the support of PTI had joined the Sunni Ittehad Council, excluding Gohar Khan and Omar Ayub Khan.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)