The Leader of the Opposition (Urdu: قائد حزب اختلاف), is the people's elected politician who, by law, is the leader of the Official Opposition in Pakistan. The current and incumbent Leader of the Opposition is Nisar Ali Khan of Pakistan Muslim League (Navaz)— a conservative political party. The Leader of the Opposition also leads the Official Opposition to National Assembly of Pakistan, a lower house of Pakistan Parliament. The Leader of the Opposition is normally the leader of the largest party not within the government which is usually the second largest political party in the National Assembly. He or she is normally viewed as an alternative Prime Minister. There is also a Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, who is usually of the same party as the Leader of the Opposition,
A list of the leaders of the Opposition before and according to the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan;
Independent Pakistan Muslim League (N) National Awami Party/Pakistan Peoples Party Pakistan Muslim League (Q) United Council of Action Pakistan National Alliance| Numerical list | Leaders of the Opposition | Starting term | Ending term | Political affiliation | Political ideology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Fatima Jinnah | 1 January 1960 | 9 July 1967 | Independent | Pan-Islamism, Pakistani nationalism |
| B | Nurul Amin | 9 July 1967 | 7 December 1970 | Pakistan Muslim League | Pakistani nationalism |
| 1 | Khan Abdul Wali Khan | 14 April 1972 | 17 August 1975 | National Awami Party | Democratic socialism |
| 2 | Sherbaz Khan Mazari | 17 August 1975 | 5 July 1977 | Pakistan National Alliance | Secularism |
| 3 | Fakhar Imam | 24 March 1985 | 29 May 1988 | Pakistan Muslim League | National conservatism |
| Khan Abdul Wali Khan | 2 December 1988 | 6 August 1990 | National Awami Party | Democratic socialism | |
| 4 | Benazir Bhutto | 6 November 1990 | 18 April 1993 | Pakistan Peoples Party | Democratic socialism |
| 5 | Nawaz Sharif | 19 October 1993 | 5 November 1996 | Pakistan Muslim League (N) | Western conservatism |
| Benazir Bhutto | 6 November 1990 | 18 April 1993 | Pakistan Peoples Party | Democratic socialism | |
| 6 | Fazal-ur-Rehman | 20 August 2004 | 25 March 2008 | United Council of Action | Religious conservatism |
| 7 | Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi | 25 March 2008 | 17 September 2008 | Pakistan Muslim League (Q) | Conservatism |
| 8 | Nisar Ali Khan | 17 September 2008 | present | Pakistan Muslim League (N) | Western conservatism |
Famous quotes containing the words leader and/or opposition:
“In Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Canada has at last produced a political leader worthy of assassination.”
—Irving Layton (b. 1912)
“It is useless to check the vain dunce who has caught the mania of scribbling, whether prose or poetry, canzonets or criticisms,—let such a one go on till the disease exhausts itself. Opposition like water, thrown on burning oil, but increases the evil, because a person of weak judgment will seldom listen to reason, but become obstinate under reproof.”
—Sarah Josepha Buell Hale 1788–1879, U.S. novelist, poet and women’s magazine editor. American Ladies Magazine, pp. 36-40 (December 1828)