CM Afridi threatens ‘freedom or shroud’ D-Chowk march

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Sunday delivered a fierce message from the incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, warning that the next protest march to D-Chowk, Islamabad, would result in either “freedom or returning in shrouds.”

Addressing a massive PTI rally in Kohat, the chief minister said the party and its allies were ready to mobilise upon the call of the designated negotiation team.

Afridi conveyed that Imran had sent the message from jail that everyone should be ready for the protest march. He stated that the decision of protest and negotiation now rests with Mahmood Achakzai and Allama Nasir Abbas — leaders of the Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP), an opposition alliance.

The chief minister criticised his Punjab counterpart, Maryam Nawaz, calling her the “fake chief minister” and her uncle the “fake prime minister”. He advised her to focus on Punjab, which he claimed suffers from “the most corrupt police department in Pakistan” and ranks lowest in health metrics.

Afridi writes to Maryam over mistreatment of Imran’s sisters, violation of his visitation rights

Afridi lambasted the federal government for plunging the nation into 80,000 billion rupees of debt and accused them of ignoring the Rs5,300 billion corruption mentioned in an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report.

He vowed that the accountability of “enemies of the state,” regardless of whether they are in uniform or civilian clothes, will continue.

The chief minister also highlighted the PTI government’s achievements in KP. He challenged critics, vowing to resign if a single non-merit appointment is found in the 16,000 recent recruitments for primary and middle schools, emphasising his zero-tolerance policy.

He announced the construction of a 1,000-bed hospital in Kohat to fill the gap at the local DHQ hospital.

He confirmed that recruitments for 181 jail warders, 1800 lecturers, and 640 CTD police are in the final stages, with all provincial competitive exams set to be conducted under the ETEA testing service.