Islamabad court issues non-bailable warrants for K-P CM Sohail Afridi

An Islamabad district and sessions court on Wednesday issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi in a case linked to allegations involving state institutions.

The case relates to allegations that CM Afridi made misleading remarks against state institutions and damaged their credibility. The National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency registered the case under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016.

Senior Civil Judge Abbas Shah presided over the hearing and noted the chief minister’s absence during the proceedings.

The judge subsequently ordered the issuance of non-bailable warrants to ensure CM Afridi’s presence, directing authorities to arrest and produce him before the court, citing his failure to appear during proceedings.

Read More: Court issues non-bailable arrest warrants for K-P CM Sohail Afridi

The judge was told notices had been issued previously, but Afridi did not appear. He adjourned the matter until February 10 and instructed authorities to comply with the order and submit a report on the execution of the warrants at the next hearing.

Responding to the warrants, Afridi said he was being targeted through what he described as a series of attempts to undermine him politically, including allegations linking him to crimes and terrorists groups.

In a statement on X, Afridi said efforts were first made to obstruct his election as chief minister, followed by what he called false accusations of drug trafficking and smuggling, and later attempts to associate him with terrorists.

Afridi said his name did not appear in any case linked to the May 9 unrest, but claimed there were now attempts to include him after other efforts had failed.

He also repeated a claim about responsibility for the unrest, saying: “The whole nation knows that ‘whoever stole the CCTV footage is the same one who planned May 9’.”

“Instead of working so hard and conspiring against me or PTI, they should sit down and talk to Imran Khan — the real representative of the Pakistani nation — so that Pakistan can move forward from the crises and problems they have created and lasting peace can be established here,” he said.

A special assistant to the chief minister on information, Shafi Jan, criticised the arrest warrants against Afridi, accusing the authorities of using legal action to block an upcoming protest.

In a statement, Shafi Jan, the special aide to K-P CM for information, said the non-bailable arrest warrant was intended to stop a protest planned for February 8. He said the public was fed up with what he described as negative political actors “imposed” on the federation.

“We have vowed to roll up the bed of those who practise anti-people politics,” he said. Shafi also accused what he called a “rejected group” of resorting to cheap tactics to revive its politics.