Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Tuesday said he would continue to serve as chief minister until he received a new directive from jailed PTI founding chairman Imran Khan, dismissing speculation about any change in the provincial set up.
Speaking to the media in Rawalpindi, Afridi said the PTI founder had previously said that no one could remove him [Sohail Afridi] from the post as long as he remained the party’s choice.
“The PTI founder [Imran Khan] said that if Sohail Afridi is chief minister, no power in the world can replace him,” CM Afridi stated while quoting former premier Imran Khan.
He further said: “Until a new message comes from the PTI founder, I will remain the chief minister.”
CM Afridi’s statement comes against the backdrop of a deepening political crisis inside PTI’s KP chapter.
According to sources, a forward bloc has emerged within the party’s provincial ranks, with nearly 30 MPAs skipped parliamentary meeting convened by CM Afridi on Sunday, an absence widely regarded as a calculated show of dissent, reported The News.
The situation has been inflamed by intense behind-the-scenes manoeuvring over the chief ministership, with several senior party figures actively positioning themselves for the slot and mobilising their respective support bases, pushing the provincial political temperature to a boiling point, the report added.
Talking to the media earlier today, CM Afridi said the PTI-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could only be removed by the party’s founding chairman and described reports of a forward bloc within the party as “propaganda”.
KP CM Afridi also called for Imran Khan to be shifted to Shifa International Hospital for medical treatment.
“Our only demand is that [Khan] be transferred to Shifa International,” Afridi added.
He further urged authorities to allow family members to meet the former prime minister if others were not being granted access.
Turning to budget matters, KP chief minister said the provincial cabinet had approved budget papers and that the government would present a people-friendly budget.
“We have not provided a surplus budget. Our focus is on health, education, agriculture, youth and forests,” he said.
The chief minister also claimed that reports about a forward bloc were being circulated to divert attention ahead of the federal budget, which he said would affect all provinces, including Gilgit-Baltistan.
PTI forms body
As internal differences within PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa continue to intensify, the party has constituted a six-member committee headed by Asad Qaiser to bridge the widening divide between its parliamentary members and the provincial government, The News reported on Tuesday.
According to a formal communique issued by the PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Secretariat under the signature of the provincial secretary general, the committee has been officially notified and charged with restoring coordination and cohesion within the party’s provincial structure at the earliest.
The six-member panel comprises senior figures drawn from across PTI’s legislative and organisational hierarchy in the province. KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati and Provincial General Secretary Ali Asghar Khan have been included as core members, lending the committee both legislative standing and administrative authority.
As per the official notification, the committee’s primary responsibility will be to serve as a coordination and liaison mechanism between Members of Parliament, the parliamentary party, and the provincial government three tiers of the party structure whose lack of alignment has been at the root of the ongoing internal tensions.
