PESHAWAR: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday reissued arrest warrants for former chief minister Sohail Afridi, whose government was rendered nonfunctional following the imposition of governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and a PTI activist in the Radio Pakistan attack case.
The case relates to the attack, vandalism and arson at the Radio Pakistan Peshawar building during the May 9-10, 2023 unrest.
Judge Wali Muhammad Khan also extended interim pre-arrest bail for PTI leaders and former provincial ministers Taimur Saleem Jhagra and Kamran Bangash, as well as the party’s Peshawar president Irfan Saleem, until November 17.
The three appeared before the court on Wednesday along with their counsel, Ali Gohar Durrani and Barrister Sarwar Muzaffar Shah.
Advocate Ali Zaman, representing Afridi, told the court that his client’s whereabouts remained unknown. He alleged Afridi had been taken away from the Chief Minister’s House on Oct 11, when emergency and governor’s rule were imposed in the province, but his arrest had not been formally shown on record.
The defence sought more time to prepare the case. Accepting the request, the court adjourned the hearing until Nov 17. The court reissued arrest warrants for Afridi and PTI activist Amir Khan Chamkani after their earlier warrants — issued on Oct 28 — were returned unserved.
Afridi has not been seen since the imposition of governor’s rule and emergency in KP on Oct 11. His whereabouts remained unknown on the day governor’s rule was imposed, and a federal minister confirmed a day later that he and some of his cabinet members were in preventive custody. Chamkani has also reportedly been taken into custody.
Last month, the prosecution submitted a supplementary challan, nominating Afridi and four other PTI members as accused in the case. None of them had been named in the original first information report or charge-sheet.
The supplementary challan followed findings by the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) and the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) regarding video clips purportedly showing the incident and profile pictures of the suspects.
According to a report by investigation officer Deputy Superintendent of Police Khushal Khan, Radio Pakistan Peshawar station director Tufail Ahmad recorded a supplementary statement in light of the forensic findings, nominating the five men as accused.
The forensic examination was ordered on Dec 12, 2025, on an application filed by Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation counsel Shabbir Hussain Gigyani.
The PFSA subsequently concluded that the facial features of the five men matched those of suspects allegedly seen participating in the rioting in the video footage. Nadra’s report identified CNIC numbers apparently belonging to the men and described them as probable matches for the profile pictures submitted for examination.
The newly nominated accused have challenged the authenticity of the videos, claiming that the footage does not relate to the incident.
The court is currently conducting the trial of 75 accused in the case, including serving and former lawmakers. The FIR was registered at the East Cantonment police station on May 10, 2023, on the complaint of then station house officer Arbab Naeem Haider under various provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Source: dawn
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