K-P CM ends Adiala sit-in after failed talks as security around jail tightened
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Friday morning ended his nearly 15-hour sit-in at Factory Naka near Adiala Jail after a night of negotiations with jail officials, none of which yielded the assurances he had sought.
Afridi had launched the protest at around 5:15 pm on Thursday after authorities once again denied him permission to meet the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder — the eighth such refusal since he assumed office.
The sit-in continued until 8 am on Friday, drawing party workers to the site as talks stretched through the night.
Announcing the decision to wind up the protest, Afridi told reporters he had exhausted “all constitutional and legal options” in his efforts to secure a meeting. “What path is left for me through which I can meet my leader?” he asked, adding that despite a court order, neither he nor other PTI leaders had been allowed access to the party’s jailed founding chairman.
Afridi also recalled earlier incidents in which the founder’s sisters were stopped on Adiala Road, alleging they had been humiliated. “All of this is being done to break the founder. Bushra Bibi is being targeted,” he said. He claimed that in the past “those who fled to London” were granted dozens of visitors inside the same facility.
“As I stand here, the court’s orders are not being implemented,” he added. “The whole night has passed, and now morning has come, yet I am not allowed to meet him.”
Afridi announced he would now proceed to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), saying he would inform the chief justice that three judges had issued written directives allowing the meeting. “If courts cannot ensure compliance with their own orders, the country will slip into the law of the jungle,” he warned.
Following his departure for Islamabad, PTI workers dispersed from the protest site.
Sit-in began Thursday evening and lasted till 8am Friday; five layered checkpoints set up around Adiala
tribune.com.pk