LAHORE: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi cast doubt on the government‘s sincerity to hold talks with the PTI and said he was actively making efforts to initiate the party’s street movement by kicking off contacts with multiple stakeholders.

Accompanied by PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja and other leaders on the second day of his three-day Lahore visit, the KP chief minister spoke to the media on two occasions as he visited the residences of incarcerated party leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry and Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed.

Answering a question about the prospects of dialogue with the government in the wake of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s offer, the KP chief minister said: “Incumbent rulers are showing no sign of dialogue and instead are displaying their dictatorship mindset, which was inculcated in their minds since they began politics.”

Asked whether he thought issues with the federal government could be resolved through talks, CM Afridi said Imran had given the responsibility for “dialogue or protest“ to the opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP).

The KP CM said that while the TTAP was “making efforts on its end”, which he supported, he had been directed to prepare for a street movement and he would take “those preparations to their peak”.

“Imran Khan is a symbol of national solidarity and stresses that everyone needs to respect others,” the chief minister added.

For the street movement, he said he was in contact with all party leaders and organisations, as well as wings within the party to run the movement.

The TTAP on Thursday welcomed PM Shehbaz’s recent invitation for talks. However, no concrete steps have so far been taken by the government to initiate a formal talks process, and PTI leaders say they are waiting for the government to make the first move.

PM’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah has stressed that PM Shehbaz would decide on talks with PTI once the opposition party clarifies its stance on negotiations.

Referring to the Punjab government’s claim that the PTI had been eliminated from Punjab, he issued a challenge that he would hold a public rally at Minar-i-Pakistan on a 24-hour notice, while claiming that Punjab CM Maryam Nawaz would take a week to stage a rally and thus be able to examine the difference in popularity for both the PTI and PML-N.

CM Afridi quipped that he would support her in establishing a stage and providing vehicles to bring supporters.

He also criticised the Punjab government for its rude behaviour with him, as well as party leaders and workers, during his arrival at Chakri interchange to reach the Punjab Assembly a day ago.

“This shows their mean mentality that cannot be approved in a civilised society,” he lambasted and alleged that the “Punjab government is fanning hatred between the two provinces.“

Regretting the administration’s attitude on his arrival, he invited CM Maryam to visit KP, saying he would show her how democratic forces respected the office of a province’s chief executive.

He said the Punjab government had not responded to the KP government’s request about him wanting to meet incarcerated PTI leaders at Kot Lakhpat jail. “The incumbent rulers have neither allowed me to meet my leader Imran Khan nor leaders incarcerated in Kot Lakhpat jail,” CM Afridi added.

The KP chief minister said that he was impressed with the courage that the incarcerated leaders and their family members had shown in the face of “fascism” unleashed against them.

Bemoans treatment of courts in address to LHCBA

Speaking to the legal community at the Lahore High Court Bar Association, CM Afridi lamented that the courts in the country had been rendered useless after the 27th Constitutional Amendment.

He said three judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had allowed him to meet Imran, but “a mere jail superintendent threw the orders in the dustbin”.

The chief minister urged the lawyers’ fraternity to “stand for an independent judiciary” in the party’s struggle for real independence. He complained that PTI workers were not even allowed to hold party flags in the open.

Referring to his responsibility to run the PTI’s street movement, he said Imran wanted the Constitution and the judiciary to be restored in their original shape. “The PTI is standing with the independence of the judiciary,” he added.

Visit to Imran’s Zaman Park residence

The KP chief minister also visited Imran’s residence at Zaman Park with Aleema Khanum amidst massive police deployment around the house.

The two spoke at a joint media talk amidst massive sloganeering by party workers.