Newly-elected Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Thursday said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had called and congratulated him on his election, adding he hoped political and personal differences will not impact service delivery to the public.
Addressing media outside Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, Afridi said he had thanked the prime minister for his felicitations. He said he had conveyed his desire to work together with the center for the benefit of the 64 million people of his province, regardless of personal and political differences.
The chief minister said he had also conveyed to the prime minister that his government had written to the federal and Punjab governments for a meeting between him and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, currently incarcerated in Adiala Jail. He said Sharif had responded that he would look into the matter and inform him later, but had yet to issue any response.
In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said P.M. Sharif had told Afridi that the federal government was ready to work with his government in the national interest.
During his press interaction, Afridi rejected the impression that the PTI engaged solely in politics of agitation. Maintaining that the party believed in peaceful demonstrations, he said this was its constitutional right. He said he would adopt legal means to secure a meeting with Khan, adding he had already take steps to secure the former prime minister’s release. He also maintained that he would not announce a new provincial cabinet without consulting with the PTI founder.
Later, speaking with media after meeting Khan, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said the former prime minister had given a free hand to Afridi regarding the formation of his cabinet. Regretting that the chief minister was denied permission to meet Khan, he said the party would now move court to secure the meeting.