ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Wednesday in a case wherein he has been accused of making misleading statements against state institutions and tarnishing their reputation.
The case has been registered with the National Cyber Crime Investigation Authority (NCCIA) under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).
Senior Civil Judge Abbas Shah presided over the case’s proceedings and observed that the KP chief minister had failed to appear before the court despite being summoned.
Subsequently, he ordered the Afridi’s arrest and directed relevant authorities to produce him before the court.
The case’s hearing was adjourned till February 10.
The court had issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for Afridi in the case at a previous hearing on January 4 as well over his repeated absences.
During that hearing, Judge Shah had observed that the CM repeatedly ignored summons and remained absent from proceedings without any lawful justification.
The court had noted that despite being given multiple opportunities to present himself before the court and respond to the allegations, the CM failed to comply with judicial directions.
The court had taken a serious view of Afridi’s persistent non-appearance and termed it a deliberate attempt to evade the legal process.
The case
The case against Afridi was registered after he alleged during an interaction with the media outside the Adiala jail on November 6, 2025 that security forces in KP would bring dogs into mosques and tie them down there, thereby violating the sanctity of holy places. His statement sparked an outcry, drawing condemnations.
Subsequently, a first information report (FIR) was registered against him on November 9 on behalf of the state and under Sections 11, 20 and 26-A of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.
The FIR stated that following an inquiry dated November 8, it transpired that Afridi and others had “knowingly and deliberately, with mala fide intentions and ulterior motives, uttered false, misleading, derogatory and intimidating words against state institutions, which were recorded [and] disseminated and propagated” through social media platforms. In this connection, the FIR particularly mentioned the PTI’s YouTube channel.
It said that in a video uploaded on the channel, Afridi had made a statement “containing offensive, profane, false, misleading and unfounded allegations, with the intent to malign, defame and cause harm to the reputation and integrity of the state institutions of Pakistan”.
The “false, fake and ill-will content, publicly and intentionally uttered and promoted by the accused and others through social media is an organised attempt to undermine public trust on state institutions, including racial hatred, create unrest in the country and destablise national security”, it was alleged in the FIR.
In the FIR, Afridi was also accused of being involved in “preparing, publishing, sharing and circulating fake and misleading contents publicly on social media with the intention to incite violence, create racial hatred, panic, fear, disorder and unrest among the general public alongwith promoting anti-state sentiments, which is detrimental to the security, integrity and stability of Pakistan”.
