RAWALPINDI: All visitors, including KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, were reportedly denied access to former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan on Thursday.
A delegation, comprising Sohail Afridi, senior party leaders and legal counsel, came to meet their leader. However, the police stopped them at the Dagal checkpoint outside the facility. Following the refusal, Afridi addressed the media and strongly condemned the situation, alleging that Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were being subjected to unjust detention. “The founder is being held in solitary confinement — this will not be forgotten,” he said.
He further alleged that these actions were being carried out “on the orders of Punjab’s ‘fake chief minister’,” and asserted that once the PTI government returned to power, those responsible for these actions would be held accountable.
Afridi claimed that efforts to politically sideline Imran Khan had been ongoing for three and a half years, calling it a recurring formula witnessed since 1947. He maintained, however, the current resistance was different, asserting that the government was “up against a nation that was devoted to its founder,” and that the party’s workers “neither fear nor bow before anyone.”
He urged those in power to initiate negotiations, stating that they should “come and negotiate with them if they understand the gravity of the situation.” He reiterated that the party’s doors remain open for dialogue, emphasizing that Pakistan “is not anyone’s personal estate — this is our Pakistan.”
On the question of negotiations, he confirmed that the authority to engage in talks had been officially delegated by the PTI founder to Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, and the party would abide by their decisions.
Expressing strong displeasure over being repeatedly halted by police, Afridi confronted the officers at the Dagal checkpoint. “You are putting up borders against your own citizens — what message are you trying to send?” he asked, noting that the delegation had been stopped again after a similar incident two days back during which, he alleged, women were treated inhumanely.
He urged the officers to consult their superiors, warning that such measures would only “increase resentment.”
