Former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry has strongly criticized the decision to block Sohail Afridi, the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from meeting Imran Khan inside prison. He said this move only deepens the existing political tensions and undermines democratic norms.
Chaudhry described the ban as “humiliating” after Afridi’s fourth attempt to secure a meeting with Imran Khan was denied. According to reports, Afridi arrived once again at the jumble of bureaucracy surrounding jail access, but was turned away yet again.
He also questioned the maturity of the current leadership inside Imran Khan’s party, stating that Afridi could play a vital role in easing political tensions and perhaps help secure Khan’s release. “The current PTI leadership has proven to be immature,” Chaudhry remarked.
While this meeting denial took place, it comes amid other developments. For example, news of the bail extension of Imran Khan and his spouse has lately made headlines, and the broader climate of political tensions in the country continues to build.
Chaudhry suggested that Afridi should not only seek a meeting with Imran Khan but also engage with other senior party figures like Shah Mahmood Qureshi inside the prison complex, to forge a pathway out of the crisis. He argued that welcoming constructive dialogue is far better than hardline standoffs, which fuel political tensions further.
Observers say that the denial of this meeting signals deeper faultlines in the current governance of jail access and oversight, especially when a provincial chief minister is repeatedly refused. The political tensions sparked by this incident may ripple across the party and the province.
In short, the current ban on Sohail Afridi’s access to Imran Khan has triggered fresh political tensions, exposed faultlines in party strategy and control, and underscored the fraught interface between party leaders, state institutions, and the justice system.
