Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Friday ended his sit-in on Adiala Road after spending 16 hours protesting for permission to meet Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan inside Adiala Jail. Afridi reached Islamabad to file a petition in the Islamabad High Court against the administration for denying him access to the former prime minister, currently imprisoned in Adiala Jail.

Other participants of the demonstration followed him to the federal capital in their vehicles as the chief minister prepared to seek judicial approval for the meeting. According to a report, Afridi, accompanied by Mishal Yousafzai and several PTI workers, travelled to Islamabad via Gorakhpur. Senior PTI leaders, including former minister Shaukat Yousafzai, MNA Shahid Khattak, MPA Meena Khan, and Shafiullah Jan, also took part in the protest.

Dr Shafqat Ayaz, retired Colonel Amirullah Marwat, Nadia Khattak and Fazal Naz later joined the sit-in, while MNA Mahmood Khan Achakzai and MPA Tanveer Aslam Raza arrived briefly but departed around midday. Most PTI supporters endured the bitter cold through the night, sleeping inside their vehicles at the Adiala Road in Rawalpindi.

The jail administration, for its part, assured Afridi that arrangements for his meeting with Imran Khan would only be made after examining a court order, prompting the chief minister to demand a written guarantee before ending the protest. In stark contrast to the provisions made for PTI leaders and activists, who were served food, breakfast and tea, the officers and personnel in Afridiís official security squad complained they were left without meals throughout the night.

Squad members privately remarked that they were made to stand in freezing temperatures without support, recalling that former chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur used to arrange proper meals for them. Some personnel said that had they been notified earlier about the sit-in, they would have come prepared. During the long standoff, Afridi managed to rest for two hours in a room at a nearby petrol station.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)