Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM ends sit-in near Adiala Jail after being denied meeting with Imran Khan

Islamabad: The chief minister of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday ended a 16-hour long sit-in near Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, protesting against authorities for stopping him from meeting former prime minister Imran Khan.

Sohail Afridi last month replaced Ali Amin Ganadapur as chief minister and announced that his first priority was to get the 73-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician out of jail, where he has been languishing since August 2023.

However, Afridi has not been able to meet the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder in jail despite his strenuous efforts.

On Thursday, when he came to meet Khan, Afridi was stopped near the prison on the Adiala Road where he gave a ‘dharna’ with dozens of PTI party followers and his protest continued for about 16 hours.

As he wrapped up the protest in the early morning, Afridi told journalists at the Gorkhpur checkpoint near Adiala Jail that he along with party workers spent the entire night at the protest site but no information had been given about Khan "We spent the night here with the workers — this was only one night," he said, adding, “If we have to spend our whole lives here for the PTI founder, we will do so.” "We have not yet been told anything about the condition of the PTI founder," he said.

There were rumours about the deteriorating health of the former prime minister but authorities rejected the concerns and Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry told the parliament on Thursday that Khan was doing well and “enjoying facilities like personal chef which are not available to any other prisoner”.

Afridi, however, said that he would not back down from the demands to meet Khan and get information about his health. "We will not retreat from our protests and sit-ins," he asserted.

He also said his party used “all constitutional and legal options” in an attempt to meet the PTI founder, but to no avail.

“I have used every constitutional and legal path. What route is left for me to meet my leader?” he asked. The chief minister said that despite a court order, neither he nor other party leaders were allowed to meet Khan.

After ending his sit-in, the chief minister departed for Islamabad. He was expected to come back after filing a petition in the Islamabad High Court seeking permission to meet the PTI founder.

Apart from Afridi, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, head of the opposition alliance the Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP), Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, Senator Mishal Yousufzai, Senator Gurdeep Singh, Senator Rubina Naz and lawmaker Zulfiqar Ahmed and others attended the sit-in.