The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has announced a province-wide pen-down strike, alleging discriminatory treatment by the federal government in key financial and administrative matters.
Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, while addressing the media, said the province was being subjected to “deliberate discrimination” due to its political alignment, claiming that issues related to the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, electricity, and gas allocations were not being handled fairly.
He announced that a pen-down strike would be observed across the province on May 6, with essential emergency services exempted from the shutdown.
The chief minister further alleged that former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were not being provided adequate medical care under the supervision of their personal physicians. He also termed restrictions on meetings with family members and legal counsel as “inhumane and unlawful.”
Sohail Afridi appealed to lawyers and legal practitioners across the province to join the strike in support of constitutional and legal rights, urging what he called a peaceful protest against “institutional discrimination.”
The provincial government said the strike is intended to highlight longstanding grievances regarding resource distribution and administrative rights under the constitutional framework.