BANNU: Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi on Sunday said the September 27 long march would be decisive and required thorough and effective preparations.
He was addressing a rally here during his one-day visit to Bannu as part of preparations for the September 27 long march.
PTI provincial president Junaid Akbar Khan, provincial ministers Shafiullah Jan and Meena Khan Afridi, MNA Shahid Khattak and other provincial and local leaders also participated in the rally.
The chief minister thanked the people of Bannu for turning up in large numbers and extending him a warm welcome despite the intense heat. He said the same spirit and determination must be maintained, adding that the September 27 march would be decisive and required thorough and effective preparations.
He said the country was at a critical juncture where its political destiny and history could be reshaped and that the people themselves had to play their part in determining their future. “No one will come from outside to change our destiny; we have to do it ourselves,” he added.
Speaking about the security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the chief minister said peace had prevailed in the province when Imran Khan was the prime minister until 2022, while the circumstances that emerged thereafter were before everyone. He held the incumbent government and those responsible for bringing it to power responsible for deterioration of peace in the province.
He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been treated as a laboratory for experiments for the past two decades and that its people had been treated as though their lives and rights were of little consequence. He made it clear that the provincial government would resist every decision that undermined the interests and rights of the province and its people.
The chief minister said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had made immense sacrifices, including thousands of lives, for the restoration and preservation of peace. However, he said, decisions taken behind closed doors had undermined that peace.
He stressed that peace was indispensable for sustainable development, economic opportunity and prosperity and reiterated that the provincial government was taking all possible measures, within its mandate and priorities, to restore peace.
Paying tribute to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, Sohail Afridi said the provincial police force remained at the forefront of efforts to restore peace and protect citizens. He said the provincial government was providing the force with all possible support.
A budget allocation of Rs191 billion had been made for the police, while substantial resources were also being invested in police infrastructure, modern equipment and professional training.
The chief minister said that between 2018 and 2022, decisions taken in the public interest had contributed to improved conditions of peace and prosperity in the country. In contrast, he said, the present situation was such that even the courts had been held hostage, while the country’s most popular leader remained unjustly incarcerated. “If this is the situation, what remains of the rights of ordinary citizen?” he asked.
He urged the people to come out on September 27 if they wanted a system in which the law applied equally to everyone and justice was accessible to all. He alleged that the incumbent rulers had no concern for the country or its people and were instead focused on protecting their own interests.
He said he would personally lead the struggle for his leader’s release, protection of the people’s rights and supremacy of the Constitution and the law.
Sohail Afridi said the struggle for genuine freedom must also include the restoration of independence of the judiciary and media. He said those who spoke the truth and stood for what was right were silenced, as in the case of journalist Arshad Sharif. He also paid tribute to all journalists who continued to speak for truth and principle.
