PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Monday voiced serious concern and lodged a strong protest over alleged ill-treatment during his recent visit to Punjab.
In a letter to Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, Afridi said: “I write to you with deep concern and strong exception to the manner in which my recent visit to the Province of Punjab was handled, and the events that deliberately unfolded during and after the visit.”
The PTI-backed KP CM had arrived in Lahore on December 26 for a three-day visit to partake in political activities, including a scheduled visit to the Punjab Assembly.
His visit to the Punjab Assembly, however, was marred by altercations between members of his delegation and the security officials. Both sides blamed each other for the scuffle in the provincial assembly.
In his letter, the KP CM said that the sequence of actions witnessed was neither accidental nor administrative in nature.
He said that such conduct was wholly incompatible with the dignity of constitutional office and the spirit of inter-provincial respect.
“As the elected chief minister of KP, representing over 40 million citizens, I undertook the visit in that capacity. Regrettably, the treatment accorded to me was marked by discourtesy, unnecessary hostility, and protocol deviations that cannot be justified under any accepted standard of inter provincial engagement,” read the letter.
The CM said that the extraordinary and excessive security posture, including sweeping detentions and visible enforcement theatrics, projected an unmistakable message of intimidation rather than cooperation.
“Such measures were neither proportionate nor warranted and conveyed an intent that went well beyond legitimate security considerations,” said the CM.
He maintained that even public places, including food streets and markets, were completely sealed during his visit to Lahore.
“Even more disturbing was the coordinated and malicious social media campaign that accompanied and followed my visit,” added the CM.
Serious insinuations, specifically linking with narcotics, were injected into public discourse, CM Afridi said, adding that these allegations were amplified through accounts widely perceived to be aligned with, or operating under the “umbrella of the Punjab government”.
The use of state-linked digital platforms to circulate or amplify defamatory insinuations against a sitting CM of another province is unacceptable, irresponsible, and institutionally indefensible, said the CM.
“Such actions undermine federal harmony, erode public trust in provincial institutions, and sets a dangerous precedent where constitutional officeholders are targeted through insinuation rather than addressed through formal channels, he added.
The CM said that such an approach was beneath the status of a provincial government and damages the collective credibility of the federating unite
The CM hoped that the Punjab government would ensure that such conduct, administrative as well as digital, is neither repeated nor normalised, and that accountability is enforced where required.
Speaking on media program on a private TV channel, Federal Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said that the KP CM was given full security during his recent visit to Lahore.
Taking a dig at the PTI-backed KP government, the state minister said that there is peace in Punjab and institutions are functional.
“There was a lot for KP CM to learn from Punjab,” he added.
Responding to a question, the state minister said KP had received Rs600 billion more from the federal government in recent years and questioned why the province lagged behind Punjab in providing facilities to its citizens.
He maintained that the comparison should be based on performance rather than abuses.
Special assistant to the KP chief minister on information and public relations Shafi Jan, during the same show, said whatever happened in the Punjab Assembly was done “deliberately”.
The provincial government deployed two police mobiles for the security of the KP CM, he added.
“Whatever was done was not incompatible with the dignity of the chief minister,” said the KP CM’s aide.
Meanwhile, Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan said that he would forward the inquiry committee report on the scuffle and chaos during KP CM’s arrival in the provincial assembly to the law enforcement agencies.
The speaker, citing the report, said the KP CM brought people into the House whose names were not on the visitors’ list.
He accused the individuals accompanying the KP CM of causing chaos and scuffles in the House.
Punjab Information Minister Uzma Bukhari said that the people who came with CM Afridi pushed the guards, broke doors, and forcibly entered the House. –Agencies
