ISLAMABAD, NOV 28 – Â Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Friday that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi’s demand for a meeting with PTI founder Imran Khan was illegal, saying the former premier was in jail due to his conviction in a “mega corruption case”.
CM Afridi staged a 16-hour-long sit-in outside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Road, demanding a meeting with Khan to inquire about his health.Speaking to the media today in Nowshera, Tarar said that the KP government’s behaviour was “regrettable and condemnable”.
“If they keep holding sit-ins, who will pay attention to the province? Demands are being made in violation of the jail manual,” he said.
Khan, who has been incarcerated since August 2023, faces multiple cases ranging from corruption to terrorism since his ouster from power via the opposition’s no-trust motion in April 2022.
Tarar said that the former prime minister was enjoying all facilities and privileges despite his conviction in a mega corruption case.”The PTI founder destroyed the country’s economy and isolated Pakistan on the diplomatic front,” the minister added.
His remarks came as the PTI stepped up efforts to secure a meeting between the KP chief minister and the former prime minister in prison.
‘What route is left for meeting?’
A day earlier, Afridi had attempted — for the eighth time since his election as KP chief minister last month — to meet Khan after rumours emerged about the former premier’s health and his relocation from the facility.
The prison administration refuted the reports, stating that the PTI founder was healthy and enjoying all the facilities inside the prison.
A spokesperson for the prison administration said that reports about the former premier’s transfer to another facility were “baseless”.
The KP chief minister, however, demanded a one-on-one meeting with the PTI founder to inquire about his health.
After ending his sit-in earlier today, CM Afridi said he had used “all constitutional and legal options” in an attempt to meet the PTI founder, but to no avail.
“I have used every constitutional and legal path. What route is left for me to meet my leader?” he asked. The chief minister said that despite a court order, neither he nor other party leaders were allowed to meet Khan.He later approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to seek permission to meet the PTI founder; however, he was unable to meet the chief justice.
“We were not heard. We received a message from the chief justice saying he cannot meet us,” he told the media.
Later, Aleema Khan, the sister of the PTI founder, filed a contempt of court petition against the Adiala jail superintendent over a failure to comply with an earlier court order regarding a meeting with the former premier.
