K-P CM warns Centre of tit-for-tat response

Gandapur, Javed Hashmi denied meeting with Imran

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RAWALPINDI:

Rawalpindi Central Jail authorities on Thursday once again refused to allow key PTI leaders including Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and veteran politician Makhdoom Javed Hashmi to meet PTI founder Imran Khan, who is detained at the prison facility.

Talking to the media later, Gandapur expressed his anger at the "unjustified restrictions" imposed on the executive head of a province and vowed to pay the PML-N led federal government in the same coin. Hashmi, who also remained a part of the PTI from 2012 to 2014, also condemned the move.

The K-P chief minister stated that they had to meet the former prime minister in order to brief him on the K-P budget but the authorities did not allow this to happen. "The K-P budget approval process has not yet been completed and the budget session is ongoing," he added.

Cracks in the former ruling party became more pronounced after the K-P Assembly on Tuesday approved the provincial budget. Some PTI leaders expressed amazement at the provincial government's "haste" with Imran's sisters claiming that the PTI founder was not consulted ahead of the approval.

Gandapur said he could respond to refusal by authorities to let them meet their incarcerated leader by imposing restrictions on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his visit to the K-P. The PTI has been in power in the K-P since 2013.

He said Imran, the PTI patron-in-chief, was to give his input before the budget was passed but he, the K-P chief minister, was prevented from meeting him. He said law or the Constitution are being violated; institutions are not functioning and even the judiciary is not independent.

"We were told by jail authorities that we could not meet Imran as a precautionary measure, as if we are terrorists. A meeting with the party founder will eventually happen, but the current method is wrong," he said.

He said the party has filed a civil miscellaneous application (CMA) in the Supreme Court as well and asked as to what action has been taken on the letters that Imran Khan wrote to the chief justice of Pakistan,

Gandapur also asked Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz as to how much authority does the Punjab Home Department actually have in allowing and disallowing a meeting between Imran Khan and his party leaders. He said as a chief minister, it is his right to visit any jail and meet with any prisoner.

Makhdoom Javed Hashmi also spoke on the occasion, stating that no one could implement "the minus-Imran formula". He said he had come to Adiala Jail to express solidarity with the PTI founder.

Hashmi said he had distanced himself from Imran when he had got closer to the establishment. "Imran does not want freedom, he only demands rule of law," he added.