‘We will together seize Haqiqi Azadi’: CM Afridi asks PTI supporters to be ready in case call for protest is made

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi asked PTI supporters on Sunday to “be ready” in case a call was made for a protest, adding that “we will together seize [our] Haqiqi Azadi (true freedom)” from the country’s current rulers.

Afridi’s intimation came during a PTI rally in Kohat, where he reminded the crowd that incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan, had delivered the message from jail of “freedom or death”.

“So if we go this time around, we will either return in shrouds or after getting freedom,” he said, adding that Imran had given the responsibility of making decisions — be it about talks with the government or protests — to Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas.*

The two leaders are part of the opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) along with the PTI, which has also nominated them as the opposition leaders in the National Assembly and Senate.

“For my part,” Afridi said, “I met them and assured them of any kind of support.”

He added, “So whenever a call comes from them, you have to be ready. And we will together seize Haqiqi Azadi from them (country’s current rulers).”

The CM claimed that “all institutions and the government want to eliminate the PTI”.

Even the judiciary did not heed PTI’s grievances, he said.

Provincial Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs, and Human Rights Aftab Alam Afridi lamented that Imran’s family and CM Afridi were not allowed to meet the incarcerated party chief.

He also condemned Imran being called a “security threat” to the country, saying, “Yes, Khan was a threat, but only to those who had owned business empires in this country.”

Speaking to the participants of the rally, PTI’s provincial president and MNA Junaid Akbar said the workers of the party “could never be threatened with police cases or press conferences.”

He also said that the party and its workers were ready to protect CM Afridi’s government.

“If someone tried to impose governor’s rule in KP, you must reach and lay siege to the governor’s house. We protected our vote, and we will protect our government, too,” he said.

Meanwhile, MNA Shehryar Afridi said that the PTI will take Imran’s case to every corner of the country.

“No power on earth could challenge Pakistan if the country were united,” he said, adding, “Imran Khan is a matter of pride for us.”