PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mohammad Sohail Afridi on Wednesday said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had decided that its members of the national and provincial assemblies and the Senate would hold a peaceful protest outside the Islamabad High Court every Tuesday for delays in the hearing of cases against incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife.

“After the peaceful protest outside the Islamabad High Court until 1pm, lawmakers will march on Adiala Jail [in Rawalpindi] along with Mr Imran’s sisters and sit outside the jail,” Mr Afridi told PTI workers during a ceremony held here to “pay tribute to the PTI workers martyred on Nov 26, 2024” in the provincial capital.

He requested PTI secretary general Salman Akram Raja to ensure the presence of all party members of the national and provincial assemblies and the Senate outside the high court on Tuesdays.

The chief minister also urged party workers to “ensure their elected representatives are present at the protest.”

“Wherever you [workers] are, make sure all your respective MNAs and MPAs are present at the peaceful protest. We’ll shame absent lawmakers afterward,” he said.

The chief minister said that those, who won elections in the name of the incarcerated prime minister Imran Khan to become parliamentarians, would protest to ensure justice is dispensed to the leader facing torture in the jail.

He said the party’s peaceful movement for the release of Mr Imran would continue and he himself would visit Adiala Jail on every Thursday until he met the detained leader.

Mr Afridi announced that a political gathering would be held in the provincial capital on December 7.

He said that Nov 26 was a painful day for PTI as its peaceful workers were fired at, martyred and wounded at D-Chowk in Islamabad.

The chief minister also complained that the police fired at and killed TLP workers in Punjab’s Muridke town.

“It’s a message for the entire country as powers-that-be want nobody to raise voice for rights. They do not want the supremacy of the Constitution, restoration of an independent judiciary and media,” he said.

Mr Afridi claimed that the PTI chief was illegally behind bars for over 850 days, just for the sake of the people’s rights.

He said that Mr Imran was waiting for people to do justice with him.

“The courts were paralysed through the 26th Constitutional Amendment and the rest was done in the 27th Constitutional Amendment. Now, the 28th Constitutional Amendment is in the works and it will be followed by the 29th Constitutional Amendment,” he said.

The chief minister said the PTI would continue the struggle for the release of its jailed activists and the people’s rights as allowed by the law and the Constitution. He said certain quarters wanted PTI to break the law for a crackdown, but that won’t happen.

Mr Afridi said that PTI protesters remained peaceful on May 9 and Nov 26 and would remain peaceful in the future as well but would never compromise on rights.

He said that party workers offered sacrifices, which wouldn’t go to waste.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2025