ISLAMABAD: Amid rising Pak-Afghan border tensions, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi skipped a crucial high-level meeting on the repatriation of Afghan refugees, summoned by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had invited all four chief ministers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan for the strategic meeting. Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan were also invited to the meeting which will focus on the safe and organised return of Afghan refugees amid escalating cross-border clashes.
Despite being in Islamabad, the KP chief minister, whose province directly borders Afghanistan and bears the brunt of cross-border terrorism and refugee influx, chose not to participate.
In a letter, addressed to the Military Secretary to the Prime Minister read that due to urgent commitments of the Chief Minister, the former provincial finance adviser Muzzammil Aslam may be allowed to represent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the meeting with PM Shehbaz Sharif.
Senior military officials and federal cabinet members also joined the session, being held with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair at the PM House.
Sohail Afridi, who takes charge of his office on Thursday, was barred from meeting with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan in Adiala Jail on Thursday. This was his first visit to Adiala Jail for meeting Imran Khan after taking the oath, administered by the KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on the directives of the Peshawar High Court.
In this regard, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has also sent an official letter to the Federal Ministry of Interior and the Punjab government, in which necessary security and administrative measures have been directed for the meeting.
The letter issued by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home Department has been received by the Federal Secretary of Interior and the Secretary of Interior of Punjab.
According to sources, detailed consultations will be held on provincial matters, the current political situation and the organizational affairs of the party in the expected meeting.
