Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad Sohail Afridi on Monday said PTI founder Imran Khan was the only leader who could pull the country out of the present quagmire and restore the dignity and standing of state institutions.
\nAddressing participants of the long march at Jail Chowk in Karak and later in Lachi tehsil of Kohat, the chief minister paid tribute to the people of Karak and the southern districts for according a warm reception to the march.
\nHe said people should understand that terrorism imposed on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the result of a deliberate plan. \u201cOnce again, Pashtun blood is being shed. People are being displaced, businesses are being destroyed, military operations and drone strikes are taking place, and innocent civilians, police personnel and soldiers are losing their lives,\u201d he said.
\nReferring to criticism on television, Mr Afridi said a representative of the establishment had labelled him \u201cimmature\u201d on national television for standing with his people. \u201cIf standing with my people is considered immaturity, then I will continue to do so without hesitation. If loving my country is considered immaturity, I will embrace that charge again and again,\u201d he said.
\nHe said misguided policies were deepening divisions, and alleged that corruption amounting to Rs5.3 trillion had taken place under the federal government and reported by the IMF. \u201cIf this is what is being presented as wisdom and patriotism, then I reject such wisdom,\u201d he said.
\nHe said those imposed on the country were pursuing policies that were driving the country towards division and fuelling prejudice, adding that the situation was slipping beyond their control and that even resettled terrorists were no longer under their control.
\nHe said the KP government was being pressured to become complicit in policies it did not support. \u201cI am Imran Khan\u2019s player. I have said \u2018Absolutely Not\u2019 to the powerful, and I will continue to stand by that position,\u201d he said.
\nMr Afridi alleged that a mindset imposed on the country was treating Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a stepchild and attempting to isolate the province. Referring to decisions taken behind closed doors, he said a political party had been imposed on the country whose chief minister had stated that she faced no threat from India but regarded the other three provinces as a threat. \u201cAs long as we are alive, and as long as our generations are alive, we will never allow this to happen,\u201d he said.
\nHe said Imran Khan was the only leader who commanded a nationwide following. \u201cImran Khan is the heartbeat of our people, and 90 per cent of the people want him,\u201d he said, adding that he was enduring imprisonment with courage and had refused to compromise for power.
\nHe also paid tribute to soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the service of Pakistan, saying their sacrifices were part of the nation\u2019s collective struggle.
\nHe said he was witnessing growing public rejection of the existing system, with people from Khyber to Karachi seeking to reach Islamabad, and that national policies must be guided by public interest.
\nHe alleged that after the 26th Constitutional Amendment, courts awaited instructions before taking decisions, while Imran Khan continued to await his people. \u201cThe choice is yours: whether to accept subjugation or stand for real freedom; whether to bow before the powerful or stand up for your rights,\u201d he said.
\nThe chief minister called upon people from across Pakistan to reach Swabi, where he said the future course of action would be announced.
\nLater in Kohat, he said the people of Kohat would demonstrate their strength and announced that the march towards Peshawar would set off from University Chowk at 3pm today (Monday).
\n\u201cI am a soldier of Imran Khan. The combined strength of the entire world cannot put a price on me, nor can it intimidate me,\u201d he said, urging participants to conserve their energy as the struggle was long.
\n\u201cWe must not exhaust ourselves. Our struggle is a long one. From Oct 8, the T20 match begins,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cThe message must go out clearly: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa belongs to Imran Khan, has belonged to Imran Khan, and will remain with Imran Khan.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad Sohail Afridi on Monday said PTI founder Imran Khan was the only leader who could pull the country out of the present quagmire and restore the dignity and standing of state institutions. Addressing participants of the long march at Jail Chowk in Karak and later in Lachi tehsil of Kohat, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":103948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103940"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103965,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103940\/revisions\/103965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}