Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi. Photo: File
RAWALPINDI:
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Thursday once again failed – for the ninth time – to meet incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Prison.
The visibly angry chief minister later said denying a provincial chief minister access to his boss despite a High Court order was illegal and amounted to contempt of court.
“This has become a serious issue. We will provide a strong and firm response,” he said.
After attending a meeting of the National Finance Commission (NFC) in Islamabad, Afridi visited near Adiala jail, where a heavy deployment of police had blocked the road with containers and barbed wire at the Dagal check post.
He wasn’t even allowed to walk to the prison. The meeting time has been set from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. At 4 p.m., the CM’s protocol staff was informed that the meeting would not take place due to lack of permission.
At 4:45 p.m., the chief minister returned from Dagal police check post and returned to Peshawar. Earlier, speaking to the media, Afridi paid tribute to the PTI official.
“Prisoner No. 804, Tehreek leader and imam of the revolution, Imran Khan, lives in our hearts. We eat, drink, sit, stand with his name – and we will continue to do so for the rest of our lives,” he said.
The chief minister said that the other three provinces were enjoying their rights but unfortunately KP was being deprived despite the fact that the people of KP had made immense sacrifices in the war against terrorism.
“I presented my case in the meeting. After the 25th amendment, the tribal districts were merged into the KP, but their share is still not paid.
“I said at the meeting that this was unconstitutional. In principle, all participants agreed and it was decided that a subcommittee would be formed by next Wednesday and the recommendations would be finalized by January 8. The next NFC meeting will be in January. We now have assurance that we will receive them.”
Replying to a question, Sohail Afridi said it was not the KP government but some “facilitators” who got the nomination papers of “this Afghan criminal” approved by the Election Commission of Pakistan.
“Before, we had ‘good Taliban’ and ‘bad Taliban’. Today, there are ‘good Afghans’ and ‘bad Afghans’. Those who are involved in crimes are included in Parliament.”
A large contingent of police personnel was deployed at the Dagal check post, the road was closed with containers and a large number of workers were present, chanting loud slogans against the government. They then dispersed peacefully.
