Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said on Thursday that his fifth consecutive request to meet jailed former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan had been rejected - a move he described as a violation of constitutional rights and an example of “selective justice”.
Speaking to reporters outside a police checkpost roughly 1.5 kilometers from Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, where Khan remains incarcerated, Afridi said he had also been refused a meeting earlier in the day with the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court despite waiting for two hours.
“We have followed every legal path, yet we are still denied access to our leader. Is there anyone stronger than the Constitution and the law?” he asked.
Afridi accused federal authorities of marginalizing KP and warned that the province - which has borne the brunt of Pakistan’s fight against terrorism - was being systematically excluded from key national decisions. “Every day, our people are being martyred. We know the price of war,” he said. “Policies against terrorism should not be made behind closed doors.”
The chief minister also questioned the federal government’s performance on border security and counterterrorism, calling for accountability over the influx of illegal arms and the resurgence of militant networks. “Who brought the terrorists back? Who allows illegal weapons to cross the border? Those officers deployed on the borders should have their assets disclosed,” he demanded.
Afridi also addressed a recent political controversy, dismissing a viral video that appeared to show him calling for a new protest on November 24. “That video is from last year,” he clarified, adding that the events of May 9, 2023, were “a false-flag operation.” He alleged that “those who held press conferences were forgiven, while those standing with Imran Khan are being punished.”
Standing alongside Afridi at the police checkpost, senior PTI leader Taimur Jhagra also spoke to the media, warning that the government’s proposed 27th constitutional amendment would “sink the Constitution and the federation itself.”
“After everything they’ve done, they now want to write that KP is not part of Pakistan,” Jhagra said. “This amendment will destroy both the PML-N and PPP — it’s their political death warrant.”
Khan, 72, a former cricket star turned populist politician, was ousted from office in 2022 and later convicted in multiple corruption and other cases. He denies any wrongdoing, maintaining that the charges against him are politically motivated.
Comments
See what people are discussing