Afridi accuses PPP of plotting 'another East Pakistan' after Kundi's security huddle
Afridi accuses PPP of plotting ‘another East Pakistan’ after Kundi’s security huddle
PESHAWAR: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Wednesday condemned a security meeting chaired by Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, calling it an attack on the Constitution and accusing the PPP of attempting to create “another East Pakistan”.
Addressing a provincial cabinet meeting, Afridi said the governor had summoned the chief secretary and the inspector general of police for what he described as unconstitutional meetings. “The governor presiding over such a meeting is an attack on the Constitution and democracy,” he said.
He accused the Pakistan Peoples Party of playing a wrongful role in the past and said its current actions appeared aimed at repeating the breakup of 1971. “We will not allow any conspiracy to break up Pakistan to succeed,” the chief minister said, adding that the party which raised slogans of democracy had separated Bangladesh from Pakistan for personal interests. The Sohail Afridi Kundi meeting row marks the sharpest escalation yet in the centre-province confrontation.
The Sohail Afridi Kundi meeting row
A day earlier, Kundi chaired a high-level meeting to review the province’s security situation and assess the fallout from the PTI’s October 4 long march. The move deepened weeks of tension between the federal and provincial governments, with governor’s rule and a state of emergency repeatedly floated over the deteriorating security situation and the march on Islamabad.
Afridi said an elected government holding a two-thirds majority was in place in K-P, with the provincial assembly, cabinet and government fully functional and intact. He said the advocate general would be consulted on the constitutional status of the governor’s meeting, noting that a vote of no-confidence was the constitutional mechanism for removing a chief minister.
“We will not allow anyone to launch an attack on democracy. The governor has acted unconstitutionally,” he said, adding that the governor’s activities were aimed at provoking the provincial government into a response that could worsen the situation.
Afridi’s wider grievances
The chief minister used the cabinet address to list K-P’s complaints against the centre. He said terrorism had been “imposed” on the province again and that since taking oath on October 15, 2025, his administration had continuously strengthened the police, the Counter-Terrorism Department and the Special Branch.
He said the federal government had always treated K-P “like a stepchild”: the tribal districts merged with the province in 2018 had still not been fully integrated financially, around Rs100 billion in compensation for tribal districts remained outstanding, and a promised Rs370 to Rs380 million a month for displaced families at the Bakakhel camp in North Waziristan was not being paid. His government, he said, had spent Rs21 billion on displaced people since taking office.
Afridi demanded an increase in the province’s National Finance Commission share and payment of around Rs1.25 billion in outstanding dues, citing the 80,000 lives the province had sacrificed. “We have to fight terrorism as well as deal with conditions created by the federal government’s wrong policies,” he said.
What happens next
The advocate general’s opinion on the governor’s meeting will determine whether the provincial government challenges it formally. With the PTI’s long march still in motion and talk of governor’s rule refusing to die down, the Kundi-Afridi standoff is set to remain the sharpest edge of the centre-province confrontation in the coming days.
FAQs
Why did Sohail Afridi condemn Governor Kundi’s meeting?
Afridi said the governor had no constitutional authority to summon the chief secretary and IG police or chair a security meeting, calling it an attack on the Constitution and democracy.
What did Afridi mean by ‘another East Pakistan’?
He accused the PPP of repeating its 1971 role, alleging the party was working to break up Pakistan for personal interests, and vowed such a conspiracy would not succeed.
Can the governor impose governor’s rule in K-P?
Afridi argued the constitutional route to remove a chief minister is a vote of no-confidence in the provincial assembly, where his government holds a two-thirds majority.
