PTI reaffirms Sohail Afridi as K-P chief minister, bars succession talk

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has ruled out a change of chief minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, issuing a notification that Sohail Afridi keeps the post with the backing of party founder Imran Khan and ordering members to stop speculating about a replacement. The Express Tribune reported the directive on Thursday.

The notification, issued by the party's central secretariat and shared on X, was signed by PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan. It stated that Afridi remained the party's chief minister in the province and would continue in the role. Members, office-bearers, parliamentarians and functionaries were told not to convene or take part in meetings, set agendas or open discussions about nominating or replacing the chief minister, and were barred from entertaining proposals or holding deliberations on alternative candidates. Only Imran Khan, it said, has the authority to nominate a replacement or change the decision. "His decisions in this regard are final and binding upon all party members," the notification read.

Both The Express Tribune and Pakistan Today described Afridi in their headlines as the suspended chief minister. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been under governor's rule since October 11, when emergency and governor's rule were declared after talks between the government and the opposition failed, according to The Express Tribune. Reports the same day said Afridi had also been taken into custody as a long march launched on October 4 advanced towards Swabi.

A day before the notification, an anti-terrorism court in Peshawar issued arrest warrants for Afridi and other PTI leaders and office-bearers in a May 9 case, the newspaper reported. Since the march and the imposition of governor's rule, differences over the party's leadership and its political strategy in the province have spilled into public view, with PTI leaders exchanging barbs online.

On October 21, The Express Tribune reported that former K-P chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur and PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja had traded accusations over internal divisions and the handling of party affairs. Raja warned of attempts by what he called "undemocratic decision-makers" to undermine internal consensus. Gandapur demanded that he substantiate the allegations and apologise, and challenged claims that some K-P lawmakers were trying to settle the party's leadership and the next chief minister without the approval of the party founder and its political committee.

On October 24, Gohar moved to contain the fallout, issuing a notification that PTI's provincial organisation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would continue under the presidency of Junaid Akbar and that no changes to the provincial cabinet or organisational structure were planned. Senator Noorul Haq Qadri, the party's senior vice-president in the province, was to preside over provincial cabinet meetings in Akbar's absence, with provincial general secretary Ali Asghar chairing in Qadri's absence.