KARACHI: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Saturday departed for Hyderabad for a day-long trip to mobilise the public for a nationwide street movement.

CM Afridi arrived in Karachi yesterday on a four-day visit to garner momentum in the lead up to the planned February 8 protests, which would mark two years since the general elections that the opposition claims were rigged.

“[We] have departed from Karachi for Hyderabad,” announced PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh shortly after 12pm.

“God willing, Hyderabad will also come out on the streets massively like Karachi,” Sheikh said, hailing the massive public response received by CM Afridi in the metropolis a day earlier.

In a post on its official X account, the PTI detailed the KP CM‘s itinerary for his trip to Hyderabad, where he will address the Hyderabad High Court Bar Association and the local press club, attend the Insaf Students Federation’s convention, and participate in “street movement activities”.

Speaking to the media before departing, CM Afridi said, “We were extremely happy with the way we were welcomed in different districts of Karachi and the passion and spirit we saw in the public. We thank everyone.”

Referring to his planned public gathering at Mazar-i-Quaid in Karachi on Sunday, the chief minister said the people of Karachi had “another big responsibility”.

“We have to make this jalsa successful under all circumstances and send a message to the world that Karachi was Imran Khan‘s, is Imran Khan’s, and, God willing, will remain Imran Khan’s,” he stressed.

“Toward Hyderabad for street movement [sic],” said KP Local Government Minister Meena Khan Afridi on X, sharing a picture with CM Afridi, Sheikh and PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja.

The PTI’s KP chapter stated on X that the Sindh United Party (SUP) was ready to welcome Afridi.

In another post, the PTI shared a video of PTI Hyderabad Youth Wing’s “enthusiastic” members chanting slogans as they stood prepared to welcome the KP CM at the Hyderabad Insaf House.

Earlier on Saturday, Sheikh and Raja, along with others, gathered at Karachi‘s Hassan Square to record a statement as they began their journey to join CM Afridi’s convoy.

Raja said: “Dear citizens of Sindh, we are present on your land today. I am standing opposite Karachi’s Hassan Square. As you know, a grand jalsa is being organised at 4:30pm tomorrow at Bagh-i-Jinnah under the shadow of Mazar-i-Quaid.

“We have come before you with Imran Khan‘s message. This is a message of freedom […], of defending the water of Sindh’s farmers,” he said.

The PTI secretary general urged the public to attend the powershow and collectively raise their voice against the imprisonment of PTI leaders and the “violation of their privacy”.

“We have to tell the oppressor that ‘we are alive, you cannot erase us’,” he said, calling the PTI and its founder “Pakistan’s future”.

“We are the patriots of Pakistan, we are the sons of Sindh, we are the guardians of Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Paktunkhwa, Azad Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan,“ he said.