PESHAWAR: Provincial ministers and lawmakers of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Tuesday staged a protest walk from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly to the Peshawar Higher Court, demanding release of the party’s incarcerated founder Imran Khan, awarding it the reserved seats and holding Senate elections in the province.

The ministers included Meena Khan Afridi, Dr Amjid Ali, Qasim Ali Shah, Arshed Ayub, Abdul Kareem Khan and several MPAs and office-bearers of PTI.

They were holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans demanding the release of Imran Khan. The cabinet members and lawmakers also chanted slogans against the federal government.

Talking to mediapersons outside the high court, minister for higher education Meena Khan Afridi said the purpose of their protest was to press the federal government for three major demands.

Also demand Senate polls in KP, reserved seats

“Our first demand is the immediate release of their leader Imran Khan, his spouse Bushra Bibi and other leaders and party workers,” he said, adding all of them had been put behind bars ‘without any crime and justification’.

He said that their second demand was to award PTI the reserved seats in the provincial assembly and its share from KP in the National Assembly as per decision of the Supreme Court.

Meena Khan said that denying reserved seats to PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly was violation of the Constitution, adding in the absence of reserved seats the provincial legislature was incomplete.

The minister said their third demand was holding Senate polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as without doing so in a federating unit, the upper house of the parliament was incomplete.

He also demanded of the judiciary to issue directives for the implementation of its decisions and orders regarding reserved seats and holding Senate elections.

The Peshawar High Court has directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to decide through a clear order within 60 days the issue of holding Senate polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Talking to Dawn, Meena Khan Afridi said that a full-fledged and intensive protest movement would be launched for the release of Imran Khan soon after Eidul Fitr. He said that PTI has also been making efforts for the formation of a grand opposition alliance against the federal government. He came down hard on the authorities concerned for not allowing a ‘fair trial’ of Imran Khan.

Talking to mediapersons, minister for housing department Dr Amjid Ali said that besides their three major demands, the aim of their protest was to expose certain quarters, which had highjacked the judiciary, the election commission and other institutions of the country. “We wanted to inform the public about the actions of such circles,” he said.

The minister also requested the judiciary to decide case of Imran Khan and other PTI leaders on merit.

He criticised the role of ECP before and after the previous general elections. “The ECP is a biased institution working against the PTI,” he alleged, adding first the ECP snatched its election symbol of bat from PTI and then disqualified several PTI leaders, who later were restored by courts.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2025