PESHAWAR: Newly-elected Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mohammad Sohail Afridi on Monday said he believed in the supremacy of the law and would confront the Centre’s every unlawful and unconstitutional step.

“A narrative is being built that I will go for confrontation with the federal government. Yes, I will, if anything is done by it against the Constitution. I will continue to speak for the supremacy of the Constitution,” he told a provincial assembly session chaired by Speaker Babar Saleem Swati here.

The chief minister said that he wrote letters to the chief justice of Pakistan and federal and provincial governments and even petitioned the Islamabad High Court for ensuring his meeting with detained founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Imran Khan but to no avail.

He said he would challenge the federal government over the continued denial of his meeting with Imran and would boycott meetings called by it.

Informs assembly that there won’t be any political arrests under MPO in province

Mr Afridi said that after exhausting all legal options for the purpose, he would place his case before the people to devise the future course of action.

He said that the law and order situation was worsening as the decisions were taken behind closed doors.

“Our [PTI’s] stand is that policies for KP should be made by the province’s government and its residents only,” he said, vowing to resist any decisions taken behind closed doors.

The chief minister said his government welcomed peace talks between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban in Doha but had reservations about it as elders and public representatives from KP should be part of the dialogue as advocated by the PTI founder.

He announced that no political worker would be arrested under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order in the province, while the police won’t register FIR against any student leader.

Mr Afridi also announced the establishment of police stations for women across the province.

He said that the meeting called by the prime minister was about Afghan refugees and food security and not the law and order situation, so he sent the chief secretary as the province’s representative besides Muzammil Asalam who was aware of the situation in KP.

“Our stand on Afghan refugees is clear. Those, who have lived here for over 40 years, should be sent back in a dignified way. Those stationed on the border should not create issues about the repatriation of Afghan refugees,” he said.

The chief minister said that the police and the counter-terrorism department were leading the fight against terrorists from the front.

“The vehicles gifted by the federal government to our police force have become outdated, so we have decided to return them,” he said.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition in the assembly Dr Ibadullah said working for peace in the province was the top priority of every MPA. He urged the chair to call a meeting of the house’s peace committee.

Dr Ibadullah said that the opposition would never allow any action that went against the interest of the province.

“The opposition will stand with the government in case of any positive step taken in the interest of the province,” he said.

The opposition leader vowed to highlight the government’s weak performances.

He insisted that the opposition never opposed Mr Afridi’s meeting with Mr Imran.

Mr Swati observed that the first meeting of the house’s peace committee would be held soon after the finalisation of its terms of references, with all relevant government officers being asked to show up.

Treasury lawmaker Adnan Qadri said Mr Afridi’s victory in the chief minister’s election was the victory of the people and the defeat of all “other powers.”

He said people from tribal districts thanked the PTI founder for nominating Mr Afridi from among them as the province’s chief executive.

”Those who held news conferences against the new chief minister disheartened the tribesmen,” he said.

Mr Qadri also condemned the alleged killing of TLP workers during street protests in Punjab and demanded their names be made public.

MPA Dr Amjad Ali said if the Pakistan Army could take over 34 posts on Pak-Afghan border, why they didn’t eliminate 500 terrorists from Bajaur district in the last three months. He said Pakistan wanted talks with India after border clashes but never held negotiations with Pakhtuns.

The MPA said he, as the minister for mines and minerals, was denied access to mines in merged tribal districts by security forces citing the delicate law and order situation as the reason.

“The Katlang area where a drone strike was carried out, has vast pink topaz reserves. Pink topaz is found in Brazil or Katlang only,” he said.

Mohammad Nisar of the opposition ANP said for the first time, he felt the house was serious about discussing the issues of merged tribal districts.

He said terrorists were identified in some villages but even then, 13 civilians, including women, children and elderly, were martyred with no body of the terrorists found.

“We are not aliens. We want an end to the buffer zone. We want developmental funds to be spent in our merged areas,” he said.

The lawmaker said efforts were under way for the passage of the 27th Constitutional Amendment, to get control of KP’s mines and minerals and declare the merged districts federal territory,” he said. The speaker congratulated Hindu community’s members on diwali, the festival of lights.

The house also passed a resolution by a majority vote, urging the provincial government to inform the United Nations that the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa do not accept Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as the nation’s representatives nor does they recognise Israel.

The resolution was tabled by Abdul Salam Afridi, whose another resolution seeking medical facilities for Imran and his wife in jail, was also adopted.

The chair later adjourned the sitting until 2 pm today (Tuesday).

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2025