While Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Burned, the Chief Minister Played Cricket

 

Musarrat Ullah Jan – KikxNow digital crator

Chief Minister Sohail Afridi recently attended the Media Cricket League — cheerful, smiling, and proud to say, “I’m happy to be part of the journalists’ program.” Then, in a flash of passion, he declared, “For the last twenty years, decisions have been made behind closed doors without taking us into confidence.”

The statement drew chuckles from reporters. After all, if we pull out the calculator, PTI has been ruling Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2013 — that’s thirteen years. Add the seven years before that, and you get twenty. So who exactly was making those “closed-door” decisions? Because if twenty years is the timeline, most of that belongs to PTI itself. The irony is thicker than the Khyber fog.

Let's break it down: Before Sohail Afridi, it was Ali Amin Gandapur, then Mahmood Khan and then Pervez Khattak - all on the same PTI flag. So if decisions were wrong then the chief minister was basically pointing fingers at his own predecessors and not the opposition. If they were right, then who is he blaming now?

The funnier part is that most faces in the Cabinet haven't changed, only the chairs have. It's the same team playing musical chairs, just with different slogans.

The Chief Minister said, “Every position has its own demands.” Quite right, but those demands also include some responsibility toward the people. No one cares about your devotion to Imran Khan; what matters is whether the public has gas, electricity, and jobs.

Afridi spoke about Net Hydel Profit again - that old bedtime story we have been listening to since childhood. Just like the promises of ending load-shedding or fixing gas shortages, this too has become a recurring lullaby. ANP governments used to shout about it, got nothing. PTI is shouting now and still getting nothing - except applause from flatterers who clap as if the clapping alone will fix the province. The province may burn but the praise must continue.

Then came the cricket match itself. Afridi batted; the bowler was a cabinet member. The ball, the bat, and the victory — all stayed within the team. Politics in motion.

While the Chief Minister was hitting sixes and recording TikToks, the situation in Wana was grim. For nearly 48 hours, hundreds of cadets and teachers at Wana Cadet College were held hostage by terrorists. Brave soldiers risked their lives to rescue them. In Peshawar, the Chief Minister was playing cricket.

Rome burned while Nero played the flute, the saying goes, but history repeats itself, this time with a cricket bat.

Afridi went on to declare that there would be cricket matches between parliamentarians and bureaucrats. Fair enough — let them play. But please, not on the public’s money. Because if it becomes an official “sports policy,” then we’ll hear: “Sir is busy playing cricket, he’ll sign the file later.”

If he is really serious about promoting sports, the Chief Minister should look at the genuine sportspersons, the associations, and the problems that beset them, instead of making governance a hobby match.

And those backroom deals he criticized — well, perhaps he can explain how a Karachi-based kickboxer named “Afridi” was granted Rs. 2 million by the provincial cabinet. Merit or surname? Because if that is not a backroom deal, then what is it?

Step outside those rooms, Chief Minister. This province is full of talent — but talent that doesn’t have a famous last name is still waiting outside the door.

The commoners seem to have been caught in a web of penury. In Peshawar, electricity goes off every three hours as if it's a vaccine dose schedule. Gas appears like some rare medicine-morning, maybe noon, rarely at night. Inflation has crushed middle-class families, unemployment has snapped spirits, and crime is rising.

Has the Chief Minister ever stopped his “Imran romance” to think about the people’s reality? He also complained, "We're not taken into confidence." Chief Minister, let's be frank — a saaf karne waali maa manne nahin maangti, usse to mashwara nahin dena hota, voh apne bachche ke liye achha aur bura kya hai, aap khud janti hain. This public is that mother — patient and forgiving, but not forever. So yes, play your cricket, enjoy your leagues, but stop playing with the fate of the province. Your love for Imran Khan is your choice — but the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are not your playground. There's still time to step out of the comfort zone of applause and take a look at real fires burning across the province. Because if things go this way, it won't be the journalists doing the commentary - history itself will say: “While Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was burning, its Chief Minister was busy recording TikToks after hitting a six.”

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