By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief minister, Sohail Afridi, arrived in this bustling port city on Friday, kicking off a three-day visit aimed at galvanizing support for his party’s nationwide street protests demanding the release of its jailed founder, Imran Khan.
Afridi, a key ally of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party was greeted at Jinnah International Airport by Saeed Ghani, the Sindh province labor minister from the rival Pakistan Peoples Party. Video from Ghani’s office captured the two men embracing, with Ghani presenting Afridi a traditional Sindhi cap and ajrak shawl in a gesture of provincial hospitality.
Accompanied by PTI’s secretary general, Salman Akram Raja, Afridi was met by throngs of supporters chanting slogans for Khan, the former prime minister ousted in 2022 and now imprisoned on charges his party calls politically motivated. The convoy, surrounded by crowds, snaked along Sharea Faisal, Karachi’s main thoroughfare, before stopping at the mausoleum of Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
From there, it proceeded to the Karachi Press Club for an evening engagement with journalists. In an informal address at the press club, Afridi drew a sharp contrast with his recent trip to Lahore in Punjab province, where he encountered hurdles that he attributed to interference by the authorities. “Karachi has been more welcoming than Lahore,” he said, praising the enduring influence of the Bhutto political dynasty in Sindh. “The democratic traditions of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto are still alive in Sindh.”
He described his Punjab experience as fraught. “Wherever we went to eat food, the lights of that area were turned off.” That visit last month had ended in controversy, prompting Afridi to write to Punjab’s chief minister, Maryam Nawaz, protesting what he called ill-treatment, including claims that unrelated convicts had been allowed into the provincial assembly alongside his delegation.
Afridi’s Karachi itinerary is part of PTI’s broader mobilisation under the opposition alliance Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Ayeen-Pakistan, timed to the second anniversary of the disputed February 2024 elections. The chief minister said he was carrying Khan’s “message” to Sindh, urging residents to join the street movement. “Imran Khan did not struggle for power, but for the independence of the judiciary, true democracy and freedom of expression,” Afridi told reporters. “This is why he has been imprisoned.”
He accused the authorities of subjecting Khan to “inhumane” conditions, holding him “in the same place where terrorists are held.” Fielding questions, Afridi expressed satisfaction with Sindh’s governance, saying he saw “traces of former premiers Benazir Bhutto and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.”
The visit has not been without friction. PTI’s Sindh spokesperson, Mohammed Ali Bozdar said police had dismantled tents set up outside the party’s Insaf Secretariat near Nursery for Afridi’s reception, though he clarified the office itself was not sealed. Bozdar said he had spoken with police and Sindh officials, who assured him the tents would be returned and a gathering permitted, provided roads were not blocked.
A centerpiece of the trip is a planned rally at Mazar-e-Quaid on Sunday evening, which Afridi vowed would be “the biggest gathering in Karachi’s history.” The district administration is like to allow PTI to hold its gathering, pending security clearance. PTI’s Karachi region president, Raja Azhar, had written to the deputy commissioner of District East earlier in the week, seeking approval for a peaceful event at Bagh-e-Jinnah near the mausoleum.
Sindh’s local government minister, Nasir Hussain Shah, said in a statement that the province would “fully welcome” Afridi and allow PTI’s activities, adding that “the peaceful struggle of any political party, including the PTI, could not be stopped.” He said permissions were being processed for rallies in South and Korangi districts, including at Jinnah Ground. “We are in talks with the PTI leadership and they can definitely be given permission for holding the rally in accordance with the law,”Shah said. Separately, the Korangi deputy commissioner’s office had denied permission for a gathering in Qayyumabad on January 8, citing “great traffic congestion” and “public inconvenience.”
Beyond the rally, Afridi’s schedule includes meetings with party leaders, lawyers and business figures at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry. He is set to visit prisons in Karachi’s South, Korangi and Malir districts to meet incarcerated PTI workers. A meeting with Sindh’s chief minister, Murad Ali Shah, is expected on Monday, pending confirmation.
On Saturday, Afridi heads to Hyderabad, where he will be welcomed in Jamshoro by Syed Zain Shah, president of the Sindh United Party. Plans include street protests in Kotri, addresses at the local press club, meetings with journalists, intellectuals and farmers, and a gathering at Insaf House Hyderabad. He is also slated to speak at an Insaf Students Federation convention and meet with Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen leaders.
A proposed address to the Hyderabad High Court Bar Association has sparked confusion. The bar’s general secretary, Israr Hussain Chang, extended a personal invitation in a January 7 letter, welcoming Afridi’s “principled stance on the 26th and 27th Constitutional Amendments, the rule of law, human rights, and justice for missing persons.” Chang urged support for protecting Sindh’s lands, resisting corporate farming, and safeguarding ecological sites like Karoonjhar, Kirthar and the Indus delta. But the bar issued a press release the next day, clarifying that it “never accorded permission nor allowed the worthy KP chief minister to address or visit HCBA, Hyderabad.” The executive committee had rejected the proposal by majority vote, and Mr. Chang’s letter was deemed unauthorized use of the bar’s letterhead.
Afridi’s aide on information, Shafi Jan, described the Sindh visit as crucial to “further accelerate the street movement.” He said Afridi would address the Sindh High Court Bar on Monday before returning to Peshawar. The trip follows PTI’s alliance activities elsewhere. On Thursday, alliance leaders Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas arrived in Lahore for similar mobilisation efforts. Before departing Islamabad, where his flight was delayed, Afridi posted on X that he aimed to spread Khan’s message across Sindh.
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