Aimal Wali Khan criticises Sohail Afridi for meeting Peshawar corps commander

Security officials say meeting was a routine courtesy call focusing on province’s law and order situation

Awami National Party President Senator Aimal Wali Khan has criticised newly elected Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi for holding a closed-door meeting with Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Umar Ahmad Bukhari, while skipping a key meeting in Islamabad on terrorism, wheat, and flood management.

In a statement on Monday, Khan said the chief minister “excused himself on the pretext of not having permission from the leadership” to attend the Islamabad meeting but instead “chose to meet the corps commander behind closed doors.”

The ANP leader accused the provincial government of focusing on “optics over governance,” saying the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were being treated as spectators in what he described as a “political theatre.” He added that the province had been handed over to “political actors who stage drama after drama,” remarking that “one leaves, another comes, but the stage remains the same.”

Earlier, security officials said the meeting between CM Afridi and the corps commander was a routine courtesy call focusing on the province’s law and order situation, and counterterrorism efforts.