PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday approved the protective bail petition of Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and sought details of all cases registered against him.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Naeem Anwar heard the case.
The chief minister’s counsels, Bashir Khan Wazir, Alam Khan Adinzai, and Advocate General Shah Faisal Utmankhel, appeared before the court.
The lawyers informed the bench that the chief minister was on his way to meet the party’s founding chairman Imran Khan at Adiala Jail but was unaware of the total number and locations of the cases registered against him.
They requested the court to grant him protective bail and to seek a report from the concerned authorities. The bench accepted the plea and restrained the institutions from arresting the chief minister. In its written order, the bench directed the authorities not to arrest Sohail Afridi until November 18.
The advocate general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the assistant attorney general were issued notices to provide complete details of the cases registered against Afridi by the next hearing slated for November 18.
Later, talking to the media, the chief minister said that no response had yet been received on his request to meet the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founding chairman.
“I feel they won’t allow the meeting,” Afridi said, adding that it would be his first meeting with the party founder in jail. “I was never allowed to meet the founding chairman before,” he said. The chief minister dismissed reports about the formation of the provincial cabinet. “There is no truth to the reports about the cabinet. The cabinet will not be finalized until my meeting with the founding chairman.”
