Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi. Photo: File
RAWALPINDI:
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Thursday once again – for the ninth time – failed to meet jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.
The chief minister, visibly angry, later said denying a provincial chief minister access to his leader despite a Supreme Court order was illegal and amounted to contempt of court.
“This has become a serious matter. We will give a strong and firm response,” he said.
After attending a meeting of the National Finance Commission (NFC) in Islamabad, Afridi reached near the Adiala jail where heavy police deployment had blocked the road with containers and barbed wire at the Dagal check post.
He was not even allowed to continue on foot towards the prison. The meeting time was set from 14.00 to 16.00. At 4 pm, the CM’s protocol staff was informed that the meeting would not take place as no permission had been given.
At 4:45 PM, the Chief Minister returned from Dagal police check post and went back to Peshawar. Earlier, Afridi addressed the media and felicitated the PTI host.
“Prisoner No. 804, the leader of Tehreek and the imam of the revolution, Imran Khan, lives in our hearts. We eat, drink, sit, rise with his name – and will continue to do so all our lives,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that all three other provinces got their due rights but unfortunately KP was deprived despite the fact that the people of KP have made huge sacrifices in the war against terrorism.
“I presented my case in the meeting. After the 25th amendment, the tribal districts were merged into KP but their share is still not given.
“I said at the meeting that this is unconstitutional. In principle, all participants agreed and it was decided that a subcommittee must be formed by next Wednesday and the recommendations will be finished by January 8. The next NFC meeting will be held in January. Now we have been assured that we will receive it.”
Responding to a question, Sohail Afridi said that it is not the KP government but certain “facilitators” who got the nomination papers of the “criminal Afghan” approved by the Election Commission of Pakistan.
“In the past we had ‘good Taliban’ and ‘bad Taliban’. Now there are ‘good Afghans’ and ‘bad Afghans’. Those involved in crimes are made part of the parliament.”
A heavy police force was deployed at Dagal checkpoint, the road was sealed with containers and a large number of workers were present and shouted slogans against the government. They later dispersed peacefully.
