Workers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have criticised the proposed “Release Force” aimed at securing the freedom of the party’s founder, calling it ineffective and merely symbolic.
In a series of video statements circulating online, party workers said they had been striving for the release of the PTI founder for the past two years but expressed frustration over what they described as a lack of clear direction from the leadership.
They claimed that the party founder had entrusted responsibility for his release to Sohail Khan Afridi.
However, according to the workers, Afridi has yet to initiate any meaningful public movement.
They added that Afridi had indicated that decisions regarding such efforts would be taken “on the streets” and with public involvement, but no such steps have materialised.
PTI worker Zaheer Abbas said that for the past six months, he had heard repeated announcements from the KP Chief Minister (CM) about taking the issue to the public, but no concrete action had followed.
“No movement has been launched so far, while workers are still waiting,” Abbas said, questioning when a public campaign would be formally announced.
He also criticised what he described as confusion within the party leadership, stating that responsibility for initiating a movement appeared to shift between various figures, including Sohail Afridi, Barrister Gohar, and Junaid Akbar.
According to Abbas, the PTI founder did not appoint Afridi as Chief Minister solely for governance or development purposes but to lead a movement for his release.
He emphasised that while development work remains important, the current priority should be mobilising efforts for the founder’s freedom.
The workers further alleged that internal disagreements had led to inaction, with leaders reportedly shifting responsibility among themselves rather than taking decisive steps.
They urged PTI supporters to take matters into their own hands and come out in support, claiming that the current leadership appeared unwilling to initiate a strong movement.
There has been no immediate response from PTI leadership regarding these statements.
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