RAWALPINDI: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi was on Thursday denied a meeting with incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan for the fourth time since assuming office.
The denial comes despite the Islamabad High Court (IHC) last week directing the Adiala jail superintendent to implement a March 24 order that reinstated the twice-a-week meeting schedule for the former prime minister.
Afridi has termed consultation with Imran as crucial in order to announce his new provincial cabinet after he was elected as the chief minister earlier this month.
Speaking to reporters outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, Afridi said he was yet again prevented by the police from meeting Imran.
He was flanked by PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, who was approved by the IHC as the designated person to provide the jail officials with the list of individuals named to meet Imran.
Afridi highlighted the various legal steps he had taken in order to secure his meeting with Imran, including letters written to the Punjab Home Department and the federal government, along with approaching the IHC.
“Imagine that someone in Pakistan is so powerful that they are considering themselves beyond the scope of the law and the Constitution, so now we are in a quandary about what to do next,” he said.
The chief minister added that the PTI leadership will gather to discuss the matter and announce a plan of action.
In a video statement, Senator Aon Abbas Buppi, flanked by Afridi, said they both were listed among the individuals allowed to meet Imran today and had departed for Adiala jail.
However, Buppi claimed, they were stopped by the Punjab Police while on their way to the prison.
“What will be bigger shamelessness than this. The Islamabad High Court’s chief justice is ordering the CM in writing that go and meet your leader, and a jail superintendent — a Grade 17-18 officer — said ‘I do not acknowledge any court’,” the senator said.
Without disclosing where they were, Buppi said they were waiting for someone to “come to their senses and allow the meeting”.
Earlier today, CM Afridi told reporters in Peshawar that if barred again from meeting the PTI founder, he would file a contempt case against the Adiala jail administration for not following the IHC directives.
A day after he took the oath as the chief minister on October 15, Afridi secured protective bail from the Peshawar High Court (PHC) till November 18 and went to Adiala to meet Imran, but failed to do so despite a two-hour wait.
CM Afridi had also filed a separate plea in the IHC seeking permission to meet Imran, on which notices were issued to Adiala jail’s Superintendent Abdul Ghafoor Anjum and others.
Then, on October 23, after the IHC ordered the jail superintendent to implement the twice-a-week meeting schedule, Afridi headed to Adiala jail but could not do so again.
Most recently, the KP CM visited Rawalpindi on Tuesday but was denied to meet the imprisoned ex-premier for the third time.
Delay in forming KP cabinet
Having faced criticism from KP opposition MPAs over the delay in forming the provincial cabinet, Afridi said earlier today that he would announce a “compact” cabinet later today.
Considering the multiple failed attempts to meet Imran in person, the latter’s sister, Uzma Khanum, told the newly appointed CM on Tuesday he had “complete authority” to form the provincial cabinet.
“I direct Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi to establish a compact, need-based cabinet. The selection of ministers is entirely his prerogative, as I have proposed no names,” a post on Imran’s official X account quoted him as saying.
KP opposition members have said government affairs had come to a halt due to the failure to form the cabinet.
The lawmakers also feared that the prolonged delay was tantamount to inviting the imposition of an emergency in the province.
