By Staff Reporter
LAHORE: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief minister, Sohail Afridi, rallied lawyers in Lahore on Saturday to join his party’s push for street protests, framing the effort as a battle for judicial independence and constitutional rights amid escalating tensions with the federal government.
Afridi, a staunch ally of the imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan, is midway through a three-day visit to Lahore, the heart of rival political territory in Punjab Province. His trip has spotlighted the deepening rift between his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party and the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, with Afridi accusing authorities of stifling dissent through arrests, harassment and denial of access to jailed party figures.
Speaking at the Lahore High Court Bar Association, Afridi decried what he called the “false Punjab government” for its treatment of PTI members. “You have seen how the false Punjab government has been treating us — their guests.” He invoked Khan’s directive to gear up for mass demonstrations, describing it as a “huge responsibility.”
Afridi lambasted the recent 27th Constitutional Amendment for undermining the judiciary, declaring that “courts in the country had been rendered useless.” In a pointed example, he recounted how three judges from the Islamabad High Court had authorized him to meet Khan, only for a jail superintendent to override the order. On that basis, he urged the lawyers to “stand for an independent judiciary.” “The Constitution gives us the right to assembly and the right to protest,” Afridi added, imploring them to align with PTI workers in their “struggle for true freedom.”
Later in the afternoon, Afridi dismissed assertions that PTI’s influence had waned in Punjab and issued a bold challenge to PML-N, without naming the party directly, to test their respective mobilizing power through competing rallies. “They can select a ground of their choice. Let’s see who will bring more people,” he said, proposing the rivals stage an event next week. “I will also set up a stage for them in KP. If they cannot provide transport to the people, I will also provide them with transport. They can hold a jalsa in KP and I will hold one in Lahore.”
Earlier Saturday, Afridi visited the homes of several detained PTI leaders after being barred from seeing them at Kot Lakhpat jail, despite a request from his provincial government that went unanswered by Punjab authorities. At the residence of Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the former foreign minister, Afridi met with Qureshi’s son, Zain Qureshi, and daughter, Meher Bano. “This is my Pakistan, and wherever I go, I do not need a reason for it,” he told reporters outside, explaining that his aim was to connect with party leaders.
He listed other imprisoned figures he had sought to visit, including Dr. Yasmin Rashid, and condemned the Punjab government’s “attitude since yesterday” as showing “low mentality.” Pressed on potential negotiations with the federal government, Afridi said Khan had delegated that to the opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan, which he supported in its efforts. But he emphasised his own mandate. “I had been directed to prepare for a street movement and he would take those preparations to their peak.”
After the visit, Zain Qureshi posted on X expressing gratitude, noting that Afridi inquired about his father’s health, “hailed his sacrifices and also visited my mother.” He called the encounter “a source of encouragement and strength for us.” Afridi continued to the homes of Dr. Rashid, where he met her husband, Rashid Nabi Malik; Ejaz Chaudhry, greeting his wife and children; and Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed. Afridi praised the jailed leaders as enduring “wrongful confinement” despite health challenges and “all the oppression and fascism,” hailing them as inspirations for standing by Khan.
The visit builds on Friday’s arrival, when Afridi reached Lahore around and headed to the Punjab Assembly. The outing was disrupted by clashes between his group and security forces, alongside tense encounters between PTI figures and journalists. Police blockades at Liberty Roundabout prevented a planned address there. Inside the assembly, speaking to PTI lawmakers, Afridi thanked Punjabis for their welcome but assailed police conduct along his route. “Today, the Punjab Police were rude to our workers at Chakri Interchange, Bhera, Sargodha and Mandi Bahauddin,” he said. “Our workers, our parliamentarians, our leaders — they were harassed and arrested. This cannot be condemned enough.”
To reporters, he framed his presence as launching Mr. Khan’s street campaign, calling on supporters to ready themselves against tyranny. “We will take Imran Khan’s ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ movement to its logical conclusion, restore the supremacy of the Constitution and law, and revive an independent judiciary and independent media.”
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
