Afridi urges lawyers to lead resistance

Stand up now or be judged by history, says K-P CM

ISLAMABAD:

As Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) steps up its street movement, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Monday appealed to the legal community to take a stand for constitutional supremacy and judicial independence, warning that silence today would haunt future generations.

Addressing lawyers at an event organised by the Islamabad Bar Association, the K-P chief minister framed the current political moment as a test for the judiciary and its defenders.

His remarks came days after concluding a contentious three-day visit to Lahore and ahead of his announced visit to Karachi as part of PTI's nationwide mobilisation.

"If you do not stand up for the supremacy of the Constitution and the law and for an independent judiciary, then future generations will spit on us and you as well," Afridi said, urging lawyers to launch a fresh movement.

"Long live resistance," he added, saying the youth would stand behind the legal fraternity.

Calling on lawyers to support Imran Khan, Afridi said the PTI founder was facing "oppression and barbarity" and stressed that anyone with "even one per cent" of conscience would oppose the 26th and 27th Constitutional Amendments, as well as "unfair trials of journalists and politicians".

"You must support the PTI founder [Imran Khan] against oppression and barbarity. Whose conscience is even one per cent alive will stand against the 26th and 27th Constitutional Amendments, as well as unfair trials - whether of journalists or politicians - and will demand the release of all political workers who are wrongfully in jail," he said.

Afridi stressed that Imran was not seeking personal relief but due process. "A convicted person was received at the airport," he said, in an apparent reference to Nawaz Sharif's return to Pakistan in October 2023.

During the address, the K-P chief minister praised rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, who was present in the audience.

"Imaan Mazari has created a new history of resistance. The youth receive encouragement from her," he said.

Afridi also referred to journalists facing convictions and trials conducted in their absence. "Arshad Sharif had to leave his country to save his life because he was not getting justice and security here, but he was not spared even abroad," he said, referring to the killing of Arshad Sharif in Kenya in October 2022.

Warning that the current crackdown would not remain confined to PTI, Afridi told lawyers that they too could soon face similar pressure. "You will not be able to tolerate what the PTI has," he said.

He again complained that authorities had repeatedly blocked his attempts to meet Imran at Adiala Jail, despite court orders.

"Three judges [of the IHC] issued orders for [my] meeting with the PTI founder, but the Adiala jail's superintendent threw that directive in the trash," he said.

Afridi said Imran was "fighting our war in jail", adding that "those who took cars from the Toshakhana were the rulers, and the person who took items legally was in prison".