Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Friday approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC), seeking permission to meet PTI founder Imran Khan in Adiala Jail.
On Thursday, Afridi, who was elected as the provincial chief minister on Monday, was denied a meeting with Imran during a visit to the prison. The PTI founder, imprisoned since August 2023, is serving a sentence at Adiala Jail in a £190 million corruption case and also faces pending trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act related to the May 9 protests.
Afridi said he waited outside the prison for around two hours yesterday before departing. Speaking to reporters, he said he would announce his cabinet after consulting Imran and seeking his input. He claimed he had officially notified the Punjab government and the federal government of his plan to visit Adiala, but received no response, adding that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif did not reply to his subsequent request, made during a phone call, to facilitate a meeting with Imran.
Per a writ petition seen by Dawn.com, the petitioner, being constitutionally responsible for governance of the province, is “under both legal and moral obligation” to consult Imran for “guidance and instructions of urgent and sensitive provincial matters” concerning the governance and formation of the provincial cabinet.
The petition was filed against the federal secretary of the Interior Ministry, the secretary of the Punjab Home Department, the inspector general of Punjab prisons, and the superintendent of Central Prison Adiala, Rawalpindi.
The petition, filed through counsel Syed Ali Bukhari, stated that Afridi had approached the Interior Ministry and Punjab Home Department on October 15, 2025, seeking a meeting with Imran through an official letter that was “duly received” by both offices.
Aside from approaching the IHC, CM Afridi also wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, requesting the arrangement of a meeting with Imran.
According to the letter, seen by Dawn.com, it was “necessary in the public interest that a periodical meeting” of the KP CM be permitted under the supervision of the competent authorities at Central Prison Adiala, Rawalpindi.
Per the letter, Afridi has been elected CM of KP on the ticket of PTI, a province with a population of 45 million, for the governance and securing/safeguarding the fundamental rights and matters relating to law and order situation, formation of provincial cabinet, critical economic challenges being faced by the province’s people and important policy matters.
“There is a pressing need to seek direction from [Imran] regarding [these] matters and others, including relations regarding certain important matters with the federation and other provinces,” said the letter.
“The seeking of direction is extremely essential, even presently the province of Punjab has stopped the inter-provincial trade, i.e., of wheat, etc,” the letter said.
More to follow
