Sohail Afridi plans Lahore visit as PTI pushes renewed mobilisation

ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has announced plans to visit Lahore on May 1 after a scheduled trip to Kashmir on April 25 to mark Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s foundation day, as the party seeks to revive its political activity in Punjab.

The planned Lahore visit would be Afridi’s second attempt in five months to energise the party in the province. His earlier visit in December 2025, encountered administrative hurdles, including restrictions on public engagements.

Afridi said he would first travel to Kashmir on April 25 on the occasion of PTI’s foundation day and then head to Lahore on May 1. The move comes as PTI continues to pursue its protest narrative despite previous resistance in Punjab, where the party’s activities have faced operational and administrative constraints.

Within PTI, the initiative is being presented as part of a wider effort to keep political momentum alive across different regions. However, comments from party leaders suggested that there was not complete alignment within the organisation over the proposed Lahore programme.

PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa President Junaid Akbar said he was unaware of any concrete plan for the Lahore visit. He said his attention remained focused on organisational matters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including the recent Mardan rally. He added that the Lahore trip was part of the chief minister’s plan and said he would be ready to perform any role assigned by the party leadership in that regard.

PTI Central Deputy Secretary for Information Shaukat Yousafzai, meanwhile, supported the move and said the purpose of the Lahore visit was to mobilise. He said the party should be allowed to conduct political activity freely and added that Lahore is part of Pakistan. He also said PTI would continue its political struggle despite the difficulties it faces.

On broader coordination, Imran Khan had instructed that decisions relating to the street movement or any political matter should be taken in consultation with Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Raja Nasir Abbas. Shaukat Yousafzai, however, said the Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayeen Pakistan (TTAP) alliance would decide on its own whether to join the movement, indicating differing positions among stakeholders.

Alliance raises consultation concerns

Akhunzada Hussain Youafzai, spokesperson for the grand opposition alliance, told The Express Tribune that no consultation had taken place with the alliance regarding Afridi’s announcement. He said consultation meant taking stakeholders into confidence before a decision was made, and added that it could not be described as consultation if parties were informed only after an announcement had already been made publicly.

When asked whether the alliance would go to Lahore if formally invited, he said TTAP was already planning to visit Lahore on May 1 at the invitation of Ammar Ali Jan’s Haqooq-e-Khalq Party. He said the alliance did not know the specifics of Afridi’s plan for that date and questioned what PTI’s actual programme was. He also said the announcement could complicate arrangements for the alliance’s own planned activity and added that such announcements should ideally come from PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar rather than provincial leadership.

The report also highlighted PTI’s organisational difficulties in Punjab, where the party’s provincial leadership has remained largely inactive because of multiple arrests, affecting its capacity to mobilise effectively in the province.

Analyst sees bid to regain visibility

Ahmad Bilal Mehboob, president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, said PTI appeared to be trying to build political pressure through mobilisation in the hope of obtaining relief for its leadership. He said the strategy could prove counterproductive because the Punjab government was unlikely to permit large-scale mobilisation.

Mehboob said that while creating political space was a legitimate objective, it should be pursued through non-confrontational means. He further observed that recent national and regional developments had reduced PTI’s visibility in the daily news cycle and said the renewed mobilisation effort might also be aimed at bringing the party back into political headlines.