Islamabad court issues non-bailable arrest warrants for KP CM Sohail Afridi

A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Wednesday issued non-bailable arrest warrants against Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi in a case related to allegations involving state institutions.

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

Civil Judge Abbas Shah presided over the hearing and took note of the prime minister’s absence during the proceedings.

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

Read more: Court issues non-bailable arrest warrants for KP CM Sohail Afridi

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

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

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

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

He also repeated a claim about responsibility for the riots, 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 plotting against me or the PTI, they should sit down and talk to Imran Khan, the true representative of the Pakistani nation, so that Pakistan can emerge from the crises and problems they have created and lasting peace can be established here,” he said.

Shafi Khan, special assistant to the prime minister on information, criticized the arrest warrants for Afridi and accused authorities of using legal action to block an upcoming protest.

In a statement, Shafi Jan, special assistant on information to KP CM, said the non-bailable arrest warrant was aimed at stopping 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 promised to roll up the beds of those who practice anti-popular policies,” he said. Shafi also accused what he called a “rejected group” of resorting to cheap tactics to revive his politics.