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ISLAMABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday, seeking permission to meet incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan ahead of the presentation of the provincial budget for the next fiscal year.
After filing a petition before the IHC on Wednesday, CM Afridi, who was accompanied by Adviser on Finance Muzammil Aslam, told reporters that a meeting with Mr Khan was essential, as the provincial budget had been prepared and required his final approval.
As the people of KP had given their mandate to the PTI founder, consultations with him on the budget are necessary, he reasoned.
He said KP was being deprived of its due share of resources, claiming the province had been ignored in the previous federal budget and development programme. He also alleged that the province was being punished for supporting Mr Khan.
Expressing concern over the current economic situation, the CM said priority should be given to the economy and the welfare of poor citizens.
He announced that PTI would stage a protest outside parliament during the budget session, which is expected to be presented on June 10, and insisted that as KP chief minister, he was authorised to make decisions on behalf of the provincial government.
His aide, Muzammil Aslam, reminded the media that he had consulted Mr Khan on budget matters last year too. He said the party head had instructed him to hold pre-budget consultations every year. However, he regretted that no meeting could take place before and during the budget preparation.
He said KP had received only a small allocation from the federal government’s development programme, adding that that only six provincial projects had been included in the Public Sector Development Programme.
He argued that a meeting with the PTI founder was necessary for budget-related consultations and stressed that the proposed ‘meeting would be non-political’.
A day earlier, the authorities had kept CM Afridi and Mr Khan’s sister Aleema Khan from meeting him in Adiala jail, where the ex-premier has been serving a 14-year sentence in the £190 million corruption case and a 17-year sentence in the Toshakhana-2 case.
The PTI stages sit-ins outside Adiala jail on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the court-mandated days for meetings with Imran Khan, which have remained suspended in recent months.
Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2026
