Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi has welcomed recent diplomatic efforts to ease tensions between the US and Iran as a positive step towards sustainable peace and regional stability, while praising Pakistan’s constructive role in promoting dialogue and peaceful engagement. He stated that this has been the policy and vision of illegally imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan since day one, noting that he consistently advocated dialogue over war, adding that world events today validate his statesmanship and strategic foresight. Addressing a parliamentary party meeting at the Chief Minister’s House, Afridi said the growing international preference for dialogue over military confrontation strongly vindicates Imran Khan’s longstanding advocacy of peace through negotiations, while highlighting what he described as the deep injustice of the former prime minister’s continued detention.
"History has confirmed Imran Khan’s position," the chief minister said, recalling that throughout the two-decade war in Afghanistan, Khan had repeatedly urged the international community to give peace a chance, warning that military intervention alone could never bring lasting stability. On the economic front, the chief minister accused the federal government of subjecting Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to systematic economic strangulation because the province is under PTI-led administration. Despite bearing the brunt of the war on terrorism and suffering huge human and economic losses, the province continues to be denied its constitutionally mandated financial rights, he said. According to Afridi, the federated Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa owes more than Rs2.200 billion in unpaid Net Hydel Profit, while another Rs1.375 billion remains outstanding under the NFC share of merged districts. Total liabilities exceed Rs 4,375 billion. He added that though the federal government had committed Rs100 billion annually for the development of the merged tribal districts, only Rs168 billion has been released over the last seven years, leaving Rs532 billion unpaid.
"These figures are clear evidence of deliberate fiscal injustice against a province that has made the greatest sacrifices for Pakistan’s peace and stability," Afridi said.
"Despite ongoing persecution and political repression, Imran Khan remains unbroken and continues to stand as Pakistan’s most popular political leader even behind prison walls," he said. Despite this vindication of his global vision, Afridi said, Imran Khan remains behind bars in what he called one of the most sweeping acts of political victimization in Pakistan’s democratic history.
"Baseless and politically motivated cases continue to be armed against Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi," he said. "Many of these cases have become a travesty of justice."
The Chief Minister alleged that the cases are deliberately not being directed for timely hearings and described the situation as "procedural hostage taking through the courts." Imran Khan’s imprisonment has now crossed 950 days, he added. Afridi claimed that the former prime minister is being denied even basic rights of ordinary prisoners, including access to family, legal advice, personal doctors and his sons.
