Sohail Afridi says he will stay KP chief minister until Imran Khan issues new direction

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said on Tuesday that he would continue in office unless Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan issued fresh instructions, rejecting speculation about a change in the province’s political set-up.

Speaking to the media in Rawalpindi, Afridi said Imran Khan had already made it clear that he could not be removed from the post so long as he remained the party’s choice. Referring to the jailed former prime minister’s earlier remarks, Afridi said:

"The PTI founder [Imran Khan] said that if Sohail Afridi is chief minister, no power in the world can replace him,"

He added:

“Until a new message comes from the PTI founder, I will remain the chief minister.”

His comments came amid worsening internal tensions within PTI’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter. Afridi also told reporters earlier in the day that the PTI-led provincial government could only be removed by the party founder, and described reports of a forward bloc within the party as propaganda.

He also called for Imran Khan to be shifted to Shifa International Hospital for treatment. Afridi said the party’s only demand was the transfer of the former premier to that hospital, and urged the authorities to allow family members to meet him if others were not being given access.

"Our only demand is that [Khan] be transferred to Shifa International,"

On the budget, the chief minister said the provincial cabinet had approved the budget papers and that the government would present what he described as a people-friendly budget. He said the province had not presented a surplus budget and that spending priorities would include health, education, agriculture, youth and forests.

"We have not provided a surplus budget. Our focus is on health, education, agriculture, youth and forests,"

Afridi also said reports about a forward bloc were being spread to divert attention ahead of the federal budget, which he said would affect all provinces as well as Gilgit-Baltistan.

PTI forms committee

Separately, as differences within PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa continue to intensify, the party has set up a six-member committee led by Asad Qaiser to narrow the gap between its parliamentary members and the provincial government, according to a formal communique issued by the PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Secretariat and signed by the provincial secretary general.

The notification said the committee had been tasked with restoring coordination and cohesion within the party’s provincial structure as early as possible. The body includes KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati and Provincial General Secretary Ali Asghar Khan among its core members, giving it both legislative and organisational weight.

According to the notification, the committee’s central role will be to act as a coordination and liaison mechanism among members of parliament, the parliamentary party and the provincial government, three layers of the party structure whose lack of alignment has been identified as the main cause of the present internal tensions.

Separately, nearly 30 MPAs did not attend a parliamentary meeting called by the chief minister on Sunday, in what was widely seen as a deliberate display of dissent. The same report said the situation had further intensified due to behind-the-scenes efforts by several senior party figures seeking the chief minister’s office and rallying support in their favour.