Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said on Thursday that he was unable to meet the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) earlier today and was denied permission to meet PTI founder and ex-premier Imran Khan at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.

Afridi has been seeking a meeting with the former premier, who is incarcerated at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, since he was sworn in as the KP CM on October 15. He has been denied access to the PTI founder at least four times since then, despite the IHC’s directives to implement its March order that reinstated a twice-a-week meeting schedule for Imran.

Addressing reporters outside the prison, CM Afridi lamented that he was unable to meet the party founder and the chief justice of the IHC, the latter of whom he had waited 90 minutes to meet before leaving empty-handed.

“As you all know, there have been continuous efforts through constitutional and legal means; this is the fifth time,” he said, referring to how frequently he was denied a meeting with the PTI founder.

“After waiting for an hour and a half, we couldn’t meet the IHC chief justice, so we came here. I was again denied permission for a meeting [with Imran]. You are seeing this system in place, which was exposed by my leader, Imran Khan.”

He said that people with “clouded judgment” levelled allegations that the PTI was trying to incite and protest, but stated that he has “continuously tried to remove the fog clouding their judgment”.

“Some people have become more powerful than institutions, because people are telling us they cannot do anything unless they receive orders from the top,” CM Afridi said, adding that he did not know who was issuing the orders.

The PTI earlier staged a protest outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC) over the multiple denials of CM Afridi’s jail meeting with Imran. The KP CM reached the IHC for “legal proceedings”, after which he would head to the Adiala jail to meet Imran, the PTI said on X.

The move comes a day after the PTI parliamentary party unanimously passed a resolution calling for the arrangement of a meeting between Afridi and Imran. The PTI members urged both the federal and the Punjab governments to implement the IHC in letter and spirit.

Speaking to reporters outside the court today, CM Afridi said he would “avail all legal and constitutional paths” to secure a meeting with Imran. The PTI leader has the option to file a petition against the Adiala jail administration for contempt of court proceedings — a move he has warned of previously.

The chief minister said he came to the IHC to meet Chief Justice Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and to discuss the fixation of some cases for hearing. “Our cases are not being fixed,” he claimed.

“I have not been allowed to meet the PTI founder despite court orders,” the KP CM said, asserting that the Constitution guaranteed him the right to protest. “Only the courts can tell who is pressuring them,” he added.

On the proposed 27th Constitutional Amendment, the PTI leader wondered “whether the government itself has seen its draft or not”.

Meanwhile, PTI parliamentarians and leaders also staged a protest outside the IHC.

They chanted various slogans, including “One state, two constitutions unacceptable”, “Make the judiciary independent/free the judiciary”, and “Free Imran Khan”.

Videos showed PTI leaders gathered at at least two spots, with one group also chanting slogans against the proposed 27th Amendment.

Pictures shared by the PTI’s KP chapter showed huge crowds of party workers welcoming the chief minister upon his arrival at the IHC.

Meeting denials

A day after he took the oath as the chief minister on October 15, Afridi secured protective bail from the Peshawar High Court (PHC) till November 18 and went to Adiala to meet Imran, but failed to do so despite a two-hour wait.

CM Afridi had also filed a separate plea in the IHC seeking permission to meet Imran, on which notices were issued to Adiala jail’s Superintendent Abdul Ghafoor Anjum and others.

Then, on October 23, after the IHC ordered the jail superintendent to implement the twice-a-week meeting schedule, Afridi headed to Adiala jail but could not meet the imprisoned ex-premier again.

The KP CM then visited Rawalpindi on October 28 but was denied access to Imran for the third time, compelling the PTI founder to issue directives that Afridi pick his KP cabinet.

Afridi again was not able to meet Imran on October 30, marking the fourth such occurrence, following which he finally named his provincial cabinet.