KP CM vows to avoid confrontation despite “repeated provocations”

PESHAWAR:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf believed in constitutional and legal politics and would not pursue the path of confrontation, despite what he termed repeated provocations by political opponents and some officials.

Addressing a large public gathering of the PTI at Peshawar’s Hayatabad Sports Complex, Afridi remarked that “we don’t need to fight crows, we need to fly higher”, urging party members to focus on long-term political struggle rather than clashes.

A large number of party activists attended the rally, during which the PTI also announced another public meeting in Kohat next Sunday. Former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar and other leaders also addressed the gathering.

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The chief minister said he owed his political stature to Imran Khan and asserted that the PTI had achieved a “clean slate” in KP from 2013 to 2024.

Announcing development plans for Peshawar, he said Rs100 billion would be allocated to the city, including construction of a 100-bed hospital and several underpasses.

Responding to criticism over governance, Afridi said the PTI would not have formed the provincial government a third time if governance had failed.

He criticized repeated security operations and drone strikes, questioning their effectiveness and calling for a policy review.

Citing an IMF report, he said the provincial government would not allow corruption worth Rs5.3 trillion to go unchecked.

He further said that the KP was not an “experiment laboratory” and policies would be made in consultation with elders, political parties and parliamentarians.

Afridi said allegations were leveled against him when his name was proposed for the post of chief minister, but the PTI would continue its fight within constitutional limits.

“We respect the institutions of the state and have made immense sacrifices for this country,” he said, adding that more than 80,000 lives had been lost for the security and prosperity of Pakistan. He also warned against assimilating a “false center” to a real state institution.

Achakzai warns against governor’s rule

Tehreek Tahaffuz-e-Ain Pakistan chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai said the country had entered the final stage of what he described as a battle between good and evil. He argued that those who violated the Constitution posed a security risk within Pakistan’s constitutional framework.

Achakzai said nations that had abandoned war had progressed and stressed the need to end what he called a “war mentality.”

Calling the Afghans brothers of Pakistan, he said the two peoples were “links in the same chain”. He also criticized the imprisonment of people who he said were simply demanding constitutional and legal rights.

He demanded the convening of a national conference bringing together judges, military generals, religious scholars and politicians to reconcile differences and “save the country.” Achakzai warned that if the KP government was imposed, “every chowk in the province would turn into a D-Chowk”.

Asad Qaiser rejects ‘threat politics’

Former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser said the rally had once again proven that Peshawar and KP remained strongholds of Imran Khan. He warned that attempts to intimidate or pressure Imran Khan or his allies would fail.

Qaiser claimed that the public’s right to vote had effectively been removed and criticized what he described as the establishment of a government with only 17 seats.

He claimed that powerful circles wanted to decide who would govern rather than letting the mandate of the electorate prevail.

He said the ruling leaders had suffered an electoral defeat but were in the process of framing laws for the country, adding that the Pakistani nation would not accept violations of the Constitution.

Pakistan is going through a critical period, says Allama Nasir Abbas

Addressing the gathering, Allama Nasir Abbas said Pakistan was going through a more sensitive time than 1971. He denounced election frauds and said “thieves and thieves” got power by stealing the mandate.

He said Imran Khan was imprisoned in a bid to erase him from public memory, but asserted that the people had not forgotten him.

Commenting on recent press conferences, Abbas said they reflected the internal disarray among opponents and stressed the need for Pakistan to be a free and sovereign state.

PTI leader Junaid Akbar said attempts to intimidate the public had failed, citing the rally’s turnout as proof. He claimed that PTI’s mandate and election symbol had been withdrawn, but said party activists were still raising ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans, reiterating their support for state institutions and the armed forces.