Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — Newly elected Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sohail Afridi, issued a stark warning on Monday, declaring that “if Imran Khan is shifted from jail without our consultation, the entire country will be jammed.”
In his first address to the provincial assembly after being elected as the 30th Chief Minister with 90 votes, Afridi echoed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder’s stance on multiple issues, including the military operation, Afghan refugee policy, and the federal government’s handling of opposition parties.
Drawing parallels between PTI and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) protests, Afridi said, “Just as on November 26, our unarmed workers were martyred by firing straight bullets at them, today TLP workers have been martyred in the same way by firing straight bullets at them.”
He went on to accuse the government of brutality, describing it as “bloodthirsty beasts who don’t find peace until they suck the blood of their own people.”
The remarks came amid escalating tensions following violent clashes between TLP supporters and police in Muridke on Sunday night. The protest, part of the group’s “Gaza Peace March” towards Islamabad, turned deadly when confrontation broke out, leaving at least four people dead, including Factory Area SHO Shehzad Nawaz, and 56 others injured.
Afridi criticized what he described as the government’s tightening grip on protestors, likening the recent crackdown to the one faced by PTI workers during the November 26 protests.
However, observers noted the irony in Afridi’s remarks. During PTI’s tenure at the federal level, then-Prime Minister Imran Khan had authorized the use of force against TLP protestors, commending police for their “heroic stand” and justifying the crackdown under anti-terrorism laws when TLP demonstrators “challenged the writ of the state.”
The April 2021 TLP protests had erupted after the arrest of Saad Hussain Rizvi, the group’s chief, following violent demonstrations demanding the expulsion of the French ambassador over blasphemy-related issues. The protests turned deadly, with several police officers killed and widespread vandalism reported. Rizvi was detained under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, and remained in Kot Lakhpat Jail for six months.Afridi’s remarks expose the double standards in Pakistan’s political landscape, where the use of power and law draws criticism depending on who wields it. The fragile state of politics underscores the need for consistent adherence to the rule of law, ensuring that those who take it into their own hands are dealt with constitutionally; as Imran Khan himself once asserted, “No one can be above the law and the Constitution.”
