KP CM vows to avoid confrontation despite ‘repeated provocations’

PESHAWAR:

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf believes in constitutional and legal politics and will not follow a confrontational path, despite what he termed repeated provocation by political opponents and certain officials.

Addressing a large PTI public meeting at Peshawar’s Hayatabad Sports Complex, Afridi remarked that “we don’t need to fight crows, we need to fly higher,” and urged party workers to focus on long-term political struggle rather than clashes.

A large number of party workers attended the rally, during which the PTI also announced another public meeting in Kohat next Sunday. Former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar and other leaders also addressed the meeting.

Read more: MQM-P urges PTI to decide between party chief and country

The prime minister said he owed his political stature to Imran Khan and claimed that the PTI had achieved a “clean sweep” in KP from 2013 to 2024.

Announcing development plans for Peshawar, he said Rs 100 billion would be allocated to the city, including the construction of a 100-bed hospital and several underpasses.

Responding to criticism over governance, Afridi said the PTI would not have formed the provincial government for the third time if governance had failed.

He criticized repeated security operations and drone strikes, questioned their effectiveness and urged a policy review.

Citing an IMF report, he said the provincial government would not allow corruption worth Rs 5.3 trillion to go unchecked.

He further stated that KP was not an “experiment laboratory” and that policies would be formulated through consultations with elders, political parties and parliamentarians.

Afridi said allegations were leveled against him when his name was mooted for prime minister, but the PTI would continue its fight within constitutional limits.

“We respect state institutions and have made immense sacrifices for this country,” he said, adding that more than 80,000 lives had been lost for the security and prosperity of Pakistan. He also warned against equating a “fake centre” with a genuine state institution.

Achakzai warns against the governor’s government

Tehreek Tahaffuz-e-Ain Pakistan chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai said the country had entered the final phase of what he described as a battle between good and evil. He argued that those violating the Constitution posed a security risk under Pakistan’s constitutional framework.

Achakzai said nations that had abandoned war had made progress and stressed the need to end what he called a “war mentality.”

Calling Afghans brothers of Pakistan, he said the two peoples were “links in the same chain.” He also criticized the imprisonment of people who he said were simply demanding constitutional and legal rights.

He demanded the convening of a national conference composed of judges, military generals, religious scholars and politicians to reconcile differences and “save the country.” Achakzai warned that if governor’s rule is imposed in KP, “all chowks in the province will become D-Chowks.”

Asad Qaiser rejects the “politics of threats”

Former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser said the rally had once again proven that Peshawar and the KP remained strongholds of Imran Khan. He warned that attempts to intimidate or pressure Imran Khan or his allies would fail.

Qaiser alleged that the public’s right to vote had effectively been taken away and criticized what he described as the installation of a government with only 17 seats.

He claimed that powerful circles wanted to decide who would govern rather than allowing the mandate of the electorate to prevail.

He further said that the ruling leaders had suffered a defeat in the elections but were making laws for the country, adding that the Pakistani nation would not accept constitutional violations.

Pakistan faces critical times, says Allama Nasir Abbas

Addressing the rally, Allama Nasir Abbas said Pakistan has been going through a more sensitive period than 1971. He alleged electoral fraud and said “thieves and robbers” gained power by stealing the mandate.

He said Imran Khan was jailed in an attempt to erase him from public memory, but claimed that people had not forgotten him.

Commenting on the recent press conferences, Abbas said they reflected internal disarray among opponents and emphasized the need for Pakistan to be a free and sovereign state.

PTI leader Junaid Akbar said attempts to intimidate the public had failed and pointed to the turnout at the rally as proof. He alleged that the PTI’s mandate and electoral symbol had been taken away, but said party workers still raised slogans of “Pakistan Zindabad”, reiterating support for state institutions and the armed forces.