PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Friday launched a membership campaign for the ‘Imran Khan Release Peace Movement’, saying the drive will later be extended to other parts of the country.

“A total of 172 registration camps will be established across the province,” Mr Afridi told a public gathering at the ruling PTI’s provincial secretariat here on the occasion of the launch of the campaign.

The participants included PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, general secretary Salman Akram Raja, KP president Junaib Akbar, Sindh president Haleem Adil Sheikh, Balochistan president Daud Shah Kakar and other central and provincial leaders.

The chief minister announced that a national lawyers’ jirga would be convened at Nishtar Hall, Peshawar, on April 10 followed by similar representative gatherings of farmers, labour groups and other segments of society to broaden the movement’s outreach and consolidate public engagement.

Says the campaign will be extended to other parts of country

He said that PTI founder Imran Khan and his spouse were being unlawfully kept in jail and their cases hadn’t been heard for over a year, raising serious concerns about the rule of law and the justice system in the country.

Mr Afridi said that despite receiving a nationwide mandate, Imran was removed through manipulation of the public mandate and subsequently incarcerated in politically motivated bogus cases.

“All constitutional, legal and democratic avenues have been exhausted to secure a meeting with Imran Khan. Letters were formally addressed to the federal government, the speaker of the National Assembly and superior courts but no facilitation was provided,” he said.

The chief minister said that he approached the Adiala Jail to meet the PTI founder not as an individual but as the elected representative of 45 million residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, yet even that constitutional position was disregarded.

He said that when democratic space is restricted through coercive measures, including restrictions on movement, arrests of political workers and barriers imposed on elected representatives, the space for lawful political engagement was effectively curtailed.

“The Constitution guarantees the right to peaceful protest, so all efforts for Imran Khan’s release will be made in line with constitutional and non-violent parameters,” he said.

Highlighting “systemic inequities”, the chief minister said that a double standard was evident as the passport of a province chief minister was blocked, while in another province, an aircraft worth Rs11 billion was procured for the chief minister.

He said that in Punjab, roads were blocked for the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and political workers were detained, so what lawful avenues remained available under such circumstances.

“When corrupt individuals are granted protocol and

facilitated with travel to London, while access to Adiala Jail is denied to an elected chief minister from another province, it reflects a pattern of discriminatory treatment,” he said.

Mr Afridi said that a “systemic double standard” had taken root, where individuals accused of corruption were afforded protocol and privileges, while access was restricted for elected leadership, undermining principles of democratic governance and equal treatment.

He voiced concern over the “erosion of civil liberties and violation of the sanctity of home and dignity of citizens” in the country, declaring them deeply alarming trends.

The chief minister said that he and the party leadership would formally take an oath to remain steadfast in their commitment, pledging neither to retreat nor to betray their leader.

He urged PTI workers and supporters to prepare for a sustained, disciplined and peaceful movement, saying the issue transcends electoral politics and pertains to the future trajectory of the country.

Condemning the arrest of PTI leader Alia Hamza Malik as a politically-motivated move of the PML-N government, Mr Afridi said that such oppressive actions would not deter the party’s resolve to get its leader released from the jail.

Later, PTI provincial deputy information secretary Ikram Khattana told Dawn that membership registration camps would be established at the district and tehsil levels. He said that the party’s struggle would continue until Imran was released.

“It is our legal and constitutional right to peacefully record our protest against our leader’s illegal detention. No one can stop us from exercising that legitimate right,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2026