Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi addresses media representatives in Lahore on December 27, 2025. SCREENGRAB
PESHAWAR:
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Saturday slammed the government for running a system of “repression and fascism” and said such orders could build roads but never nations.
He emphasized that true nation-building was only possible when the rich and the poor were governed by the same law and the same legal system.
Addressing a two-day health awareness conference organized by Pakistan Medical Association in Peshawar, where he attended as the chief guest, the chief minister said that KP was the only province in the country to provide free health coverage to the entire population.
He contrasted it with Punjab, where he said the free healthcare program launched by former prime minister and party president Imran Khan had been discontinued.
Afridi said the provincial government would increase allocations to the nutrition sector in the next fiscal year’s budget, stressing that health and education were directly linked to public welfare and were therefore prioritized for investment.
Elaborating on governance, the Chief Minister said that systemic change could not be achieved by individuals acting alone and demanded collective responsibility. He stressed that every person must be made aware of their duties, adding that abdication of responsibility also fell within the definition of corruption. He said the provincial government was working to make governance and service delivery systems more efficient and transparent, adding that accountability and efficiency were central to restoring public confidence.
“In systems of oppression and fascism, only roads are built, nations are not. Nations are built when there is one law and one legal system for both the rich and the poor.”
He added that the struggle to dismantle separate systems for the privileged and the underprivileged had already begun.
The chief minister said that the movement launched with Imran Khan continued with full force and promised that collective efforts would be made to transform Pakistan into a truly strong state as envisioned by national poet Allama Iqbal and founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
He also paid tribute to former Punjab Health Minister Yasmin Rashid, saying the courage and resilience with which she faced her circumstances was admirable. “Dr Yasmin Rashid has already fought her part of the fight,” he said, adding that “now she is fighting our part of the fight”.
