Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has claimed that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has been kept in isolation in Adiala jail since November 4.
Addressing a press conference in Peshawar on Sunday after a parliamentary party meeting, CM Afridi expressed concerns over “troubling reports” published about the former premier in international media.
“We went to Adiala, but were not allowed to meet even for two minutes. We even approached the high court, but the meeting could not take place,” he said.
CM Afridi staged a 16-hour-long sit-in outside the Adiala Road on November 27 after he was denied a meeting with the PTI founder, who has been incarcerated since August 2023, since his ouster from power via the opposition’s no-trust motion in April 2022.
At today’s presser, the KP chief minister said that they would go to Adiala jail after staging a protest outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
The PTI KP has announced plans for a protest outside the IHC on December 2 over the persistent denial of a meeting with the jailed PTI founder.
CM Afridi described the denial of access to Khan as an attempt to “push us towards confrontation”, but vowed that the PTI would not go “down that path”.
He expressed dismay over his name being added to the ‘stop list’, terming it a “discriminatory treatment” against the chief minister of a province.
CM Afridi said that the parliamentary party meeting decided to ensure participation in the upcoming National Finance Commission (NFC) meeting.
“We will fight for the rights of the merged districts and for the province,” he said, adding that KP has not been receiving its due share in the NFC Award since 2018.
The KP CM stated that the federal government owed the province Rs1,350 billion under the NFC Award over the past seven years.
CM Afridi then emphasised the need to hold talks with all political parties to advocate for the province’s rights.
“Everyone must work together to fight for the province,” he said, highlighting that the fight for the NFC share and provincial rights required collective action. –Agencies
