RAWALPINDI: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Friday ended a 16-hour-long sit-in on Adiala Road, saying authorities had still not provided any information regarding the wellbeing of jailed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan.
Speaking to journalists at the Gorkhpur checkpoint, CM Afridi said PTI workers had remained at the protest site throughout the night. “We spent the night here with the workers — this was just one night,” he said. “If we have to spend our whole lives here for the PTI founder, we will do so.”
Afridi said the government had shared no update on Imran Khan’s condition and insisted that the party would not retreat from its demands. He added that despite exhausting “all constitutional and legal options,” he and other PTI leaders were still not permitted to meet the former prime minister.
“What route is left for me to meet my leader?” he asked, criticising authorities for ignoring a court order allowing the meeting. The chief minister also took aim at the ruling PML-N, remarking: “Those who used to flee to London were allowed to meet groups of 50 people in jail at a time.”
After ending the sit-in, the chief minister left for Islamabad, where he is expected to file a petition in the high court seeking permission to meet Imran Khan. He said he would also approach the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court on the issue, warning that failure to implement court directives would amount to the “rule of the jungle”.
The PTI protest began on Thursday after party leaders were denied a meeting with Imran Khan at Adiala Jail. Several political figures, including Mahmood Khan Achakzai of the Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP), MWM chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, Mishal Yousufzai, Senator Gurdeep Singh, Senator Rubina Naz, and MNA Zulfiqar Ahmed, joined the sit-in.
Achakzai, speaking a day earlier, said Afridi had arrived in Rawalpindi believing that, as a representative of a federating unit armed with a court order, he would be allowed to meet his party’s founder. “But he has now realised that those in charge do not respect democratic norms or honour,” he said, describing the protest as the voice of democratic Pashtuns standing for constitutional rights.
Meanwhile, Aleema Khan, sister of Imran Khan, filed a contempt plea in the Islamabad High Court against the Adiala jail superintendent for failing to facilitate a meeting with her brother. She cited non-compliance with a March 24 court order that reinstated twice-weekly meetings—on Tuesdays and Thursdays—under established SOPs.
