The Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi, along with the entire provincial cabinet, parliamentary leadership, members of National Assembly and members of the Punjab assembly was heading toward Adiala Jail to stand in solidarity with their leader, Imran Khan.
For the past seven months, Imran Khan has been unlawfully subjected to solitary confinement in prison, isolated from his family, denied basic rights, and deliberately cut off from the people of Pakistan. For the last eight months, he has also been denied proper medical treatment despite repeated concerns regarding his health. These actions are not only inhumane, but a blatant violation of constitutional, legal, and fundamental human rights.
After exhausting every democratic and legal avenue, we are left with no choice but to exercise our constitutional right to peaceful assembly in order to raise our voice against this illegitimate, stolen-mandate government and its continued political victimization of Pakistan’s most popular leader.
Our gathering point was nearly one kilometer away from Adiala Jail. Yet despite this peaceful and lawful intention, the police moved to block Imran Khan’s family, the elected representatives of the people, the entire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet, and the sitting Chief Minister immediately after they exited the motorway en route to Adiala through Rawalpindi. The blocking of an elected Chief Minister and his cabinet is not just an attack on one political party, it is an attack on democracy itself, an insult to the mandate of millions of Pakistanis.