Facts Emerge Over Chief Ministers’ Absence from Fateh Memorial Inauguration
ISLAMABAD: Anchorperson and analyst Muneeb Farooq has clarified the facts surrounding the absence of three provincial chief ministers from the inauguration ceremony of the Fateh Memorial in Islamabad.
The clarification came amid criticism of the federal government after only Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif attended the prestigious ceremony, while the chief ministers of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were absent.
In a post on social media platform X, Muneeb Farooq endorsed the federal government’s position and said there was no truth to claims that the chief ministers of the other provinces had been ignored.
He confirmed that formal invitations had been sent to the chief ministers of all four provinces for the inauguration ceremony of the Fateh Memorial in Islamabad.
Criticism has been levelled against the Federal Govt over the absence of three of the four Chief Ministers from the inauguration of Yaadgar-e-Fatah, with only CM Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif in attendance.
Fact Check!
ALL the Four Chief Ministers were invited.
The CMs of…
— Muneeb Farooq (@muneebfaruqpak) August 17, 2026
Explaining the reasons for their absence, Farooq said the chief ministers of Sindh and Balochistan were busy with previously scheduled Independence Day and other official events in their respective provincial capitals and therefore could not travel to Islamabad.
Regarding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, Farooq remarked that he perhaps preferred participating in protests, sit-ins and rallies in Islamabad over attending an official national ceremony.
He maintained that criticism of the federal government over the absence of the provincial chief ministers was unfounded, as all four chief ministers had been formally invited to the event.
