LAHORE: Three senior Punjab ministers on Tuesday stepped up their criticism of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi’s visit to Lahore. They accused him of disrupting public life, trying to revive the “May 9 narrative” and neglecting his own province.
The statements came a day after Afridi alleged that Punjab Police had “abducted” him during the visit, a claim the Punjab government has rejected.
Provincial Minister and Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Law and Order Khawaja Salman Rafique said in a statement that the Punjab government had shown its sense of responsibility by providing security to Afridi as soon as he entered the province.
He said the provincial government repeatedly asked the KP chief minister’s staff and the KP government for his route but received no cooperation. Despite what he called Afridi’s inappropriate and unparliamentary language, Punjab Police provided full security, he said.
Rafique said citizens were inconvenienced all day and patients were left stranded in ambulances because of the visit, and that Afridi ought to apologise to the public. He added that after riding on a police vehicle with his guards, the KP chief minister sat on a footpath, which he said the public largely ignored. He said the Punjab government firmly believes in the supremacy of the law.
Provincial Minister and Co-Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Law and Order Bilal Yasin reacted strongly to what he described as the political conduct of the KP chief minister. He said Afridi had once again tried to promote the May 9 narrative under the cover of official protocol.
Yasin said the chief minister of a province had arrived in a city of over 10 million people with a convoy of hundreds of government employees and vehicles, creating unnecessary commotion. Despite attempts at political theatrics and at portraying himself as a victim, he said, the people of Lahore had rejected the “false narrative”.
He said no one would be allowed to disturb law and order in Punjab, and the government would show neither negligence nor compromise on peace and security. He added that extremism, falsehood and stubbornness had become the preferred approach of Afridi’s party. Under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, he said, Punjab would keep pursuing an agenda of public service, development and peace.
Punjab Information and Culture Minister Azma Bokhari took aim at the situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. She said medical staff there were protesting and striking while Afridi and his cabinet toured Lahore.
According to Bokhari, young doctors in Dera Ismail Khan were on strike over their demands, the Medical Stores Association in KP was observing a separate strike, and staff at Gomal University were continuing their protest. Patients and attendants in government hospitals across the province were being forced to run from pillar to post, she said, adding that KP had in practical terms been without a government for two days.
She said that if Afridi chose to sit on the footpath at Lakshmi Chowk of his own accord, it was now being described as a conspiracy against KP. “Sohail Afridi and his cabinet have seen the development of Lahore; they should now go and look after their own province,” she said.
Bokhari also alleged that incompetence, inefficiency and corruption showed KP had been left at the mercy of criminals. She said the chief minister was more concerned about the inmate of Adiala Jail than his own people, a reference widely understood to mean incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan.
The KP side tells a very different story. According to reports by Dawn and Geo News, Afridi said on Monday that authorities had abducted him and later left him by the roadside without security after coming under pressure. He also alleged a conspiracy against the chief minister of a province.
KP Information Minister Shafi Jan backed that account, describing the treatment of an elected chief minister as unconstitutional and undemocratic, the reports said.
Punjab Police, however, said Afridi boarded the police van himself and the vehicle was moved in view of his security. Bokhari shared a video that, according to those reports, shows him walking to the vehicle and getting in. A KP government official travelling with Afridi was also quoted as saying he entered the van voluntarily to try to secure the release of detained PTI workers.
The visit came while Section 144 is in force across Punjab until September 17, banning rallies and sit-ins. Media reports say Afridi has announced a street movement for September 27.
The reference to May 9 recalls the violence of May 9, 2023, when military and state installations were attacked after Imran Khan’s arrest, including the Jinnah House in Lahore. Tuesday’s remarks also follow a sharp exchange last week, when Bokhari criticised PTI’s conduct in another statement.
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