The Peshawar High Court on Thursday granted protective bail to new Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi till November 18.
After a week-long constitutional and political crisis in the province over the election of the prime minister, Afridi was sworn in as KP CM yesterday evening, with hundreds of PTI supporters present during the ceremony at the Governor House in Peshawar.
A two-member bench comprising PHC’s Puisne Chief Judge Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Muhammad Naeem Anwar accepted Afridi’s bail application today, with the Prime Minister appearing before the court in person.
During the hearing, Justice Ijaz asked if any first information report (FIR) had been registered against the KP chief minister.
“We don’t know how many FIRs there are. It is possible that there is an FIR against me too,” KP Advocate General Shah Faisal Uthmankhel told the court.
The court subsequently approved CM Afridi’s bail plea, barring his arrest in any case until November 18.
According to the court order, available with sunrise.comThe court ordered that details of criminal cases, if any, registered against Afridi be given in the next hearing on November 18.
Speaking to the media outside the PHC, Afridi said the feds and “those individuals who prevent the meeting [with Imran] You have to realize that the prime minister of a province is coming.”
Responding to a journalist’s question, Afridi said he had not seen Imran since he was imprisoned. He also refuted as “false” a list of names for his new cabinet that has been circulating on social media.
When asked if the provincial cabinet would be formalized after his meeting with the PTI founder, CM Afridi replied in the affirmative. “No action will be taken without the approval of our [party] president sahib”, he stated.
Shortly after the hearing, PTI lawyer Naeem Panjhuta said on social media platform
CM’s focal person on digital media, Yar Muhammad Khan Niazi, also shared a video on X, saying that the prime minister was on his way to Adiala jail.
Yesterday, the KP’s Home and Tribal Affairs Department requested its Punjab counterpart’s secretary and the secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs to make “necessary arrangements” to facilitate Afridi’s meeting with Imran today, according to a letter shared by Niazi.
