Pak’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM ends sit-in near Adiala Jail after being denied meeting with Imran Khan
Islamabad (PTI): The chief minister of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday ended a 16-hour long sit-in near Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, protesting against authorities for stopping him from meeting former prime minister Imran Khan.
Sohail Afridi last month replaced Ali Amin Ganadapur as chief minister and announced that his first priority was to get the 73-year-old former cricketer-turned-politician out of jail, where he has been languishing since August 2023.
However, Afridi has not been able to meet the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder in jail despite his strenuous efforts.
On Thursday, when he came to meet Khan, Afridi was stopped near the prison on the Adiala Road where he gave a ‘dharna’ with dozens of PTI party followers and his protest continued for about 16 hours.
As he wrapped up the protest in the early morning, Afridi told journalists at the Gorkhpur checkpoint near Adiala Jail that he along with party workers spent the entire night at the protest site but no information had been given about Khan
"We spent the night here with the workers — this was only one night," he said, adding, “If we have to spend our whole lives here for the PTI founder, we will do so.”
"We have not yet been told anything about the condition of the PTI founder," he said.
There were rumours about the deteriorating health of the former prime minister but authorities rejected the concerns and Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry told the parliament on Thursday that Khan was doing well and “enjoying facilities like personal chef which are not available to any other prisoner”.
Afridi, however, said that he would not back down from the demands to meet Khan and get information about his health. "We will not retreat from our protests and sit-ins," he asserted.
He also said his party used “all constitutional and legal options” in an attempt to meet the PTI founder, but to no avail.
“I have used every constitutional and legal path. What route is left for me to meet my leader?” he asked. The chief minister said that despite a court order, neither he nor other party leaders were allowed to meet Khan.
After ending his sit-in, the chief minister departed for Islamabad. He was expected to come back after filing a petition in the Islamabad High Court seeking permission to meet the PTI founder.
Apart from Afridi, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, head of the opposition alliance the Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP), Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, Senator Mishal Yousufzai, Senator Gurdeep Singh, Senator Rubina Naz and lawmaker Zulfiqar Ahmed and others attended the sit-in.
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ED attaches fresh assets in PMLA case against Reliance Group; total attachment over Rs 10K cr
New Delhi (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate has attached fresh assets worth Rs 1,120 crore as part of its money laundering probe against the companies of Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani, officials said.
Eighteen properties, including the Reliance Centre in Mumbai's Ballard Estate, fixed deposits, bank balance and shareholding in unqouted investments of Reliance Anil Ambani Group have been provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
Another set of seven properties of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, two properties of Reliance Power Ltd, nine properties of Reliance Value Service Private Ltd, fixed deposits in the name of Reliance Value Service Private Ltd, Reliance Venture Asset Management Private Lt, Phi Management Solutions Private Ltd, Adhar Property Consultancy Pvt Ltd, Gamesa Investment Management Private Ltd and investments made in unquoted investment by Reliance Venture Asset Management Private Ltd and Phi Management Solutions Private Ltd have also been attached, they said.
The ED had earlier attached properties worth over Rs 8,997 crore in the bank fraud cases related to Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd, and Reliance Home Finance Ltd.
The total attachment in the case against the Reliance Group is now Rs 10,117 crore.
