A Peshawar anti-terrorism court issued arrest warrants on Wednesday for suspended Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and four other Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders in the case over the attack on the Radio Pakistan building in Peshawar.
The warrants also name former provincial ministers Taimur Saleem Jhagra and Kamran Khan Bangash, PTI Peshawar President Irfan Saleem and party activist Amir Khan Chamkani. Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Wali Muhammad Khan issued the orders during a hearing in Peshawar and adjourned the case until November 4.
Sohail Afridi arrest warrants follow challan
The district public prosecutor submitted the challan at Wednesday’s hearing, naming the five men as accused. The judge observed that, since the challan had been filed and the suspects stood nominated, arrest warrants were warranted under the law.
Radio Pakistan’s legal counsel, Shabbir Hussain Gigyani, told the court that video footage of the attack was available. He asked for the identities of the people seen in the footage to be verified through the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and the Punjab Forensic Science Agency.
The court then obtained forensic reports from NADRA in Islamabad and the Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory in Lahore to verify the suspects’ identities from video footage and photographs.
According to the prosecution’s account in court, forensic analysis of the crime-scene footage also indicated that the accused were present at the site. Gigyani added that the challan had taken nearly six months to reach the court after the investigation ended, and that five of more than 80 nominated suspects were included in it.
Defence counsel Ali Zaman sought more time, and the court adjourned the case until November 4.
What happened at Radio Pakistan in May 2023
The case relates to the attack on, and arson at, the Radio Pakistan building in Peshawar during violent protests on May 9 and 10, 2023. Those protests followed the arrest of PTI founder Imran Khan.
Protesters broke through the main gate, set fire to the building and vehicles, and damaged equipment. The arson badly damaged the historic station, which began operating in 1935 and ranked among Pakistan’s oldest.
The loss went beyond bricks and equipment. The Express Tribune reported on May 12, 2023 that the fire destroyed century-old archives of Pashto and Hindko music, dramas, speeches and other recordings, a major cultural setback for regional-language broadcasting.
More than 80 PTI leaders and workers were initially reported to have been nominated in cases linked to the violence and the attack on Radio Pakistan. That forensic work has already produced one caution. In January, the Punjab Forensic Science Laboratory analysed 16 video clips, and the footage showed Sohail Afridi, Kamran Bangash, Taimur Saleem Jhagra and Irfan Saleem. However, the report also noted that some clips showed signs of editing or splicing, so the evidence will need careful assessment at trial.
Why the warrants matter now
The warrants land in the middle of a wider confrontation over Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Reports of Afridi’s detention emerged shortly after the federal government announced on October 11 that it would impose emergency and governor’s rule in the province under Articles 232 and 234 of the Constitution. On October 12, the minister of state for interior confirmed that Afridi and some members of his cabinet had been taken into preventive custody.
The two tracks are separate. The preventive custody relates to the emergency measures, while the warrants relate to a criminal case from 2023 that has moved slowly through the courts. A warrant is not a conviction, and the accused will have the chance to answer the charges when the case is heard.
The November 4 hearing will show whether the five men appear, seek bail, or challenge the warrants.
The province’s politics remain unsettled in parallel. Courts have also been in the news this week, with Justice Kayani resigning as an LHC judge. The KP government has ordered a review of 74 PTI-era laws, while PTI leaders in KP have avoided a protest against governor’s rule. At the same time, KP police have received ambulances and armoured vehicles.
Frequently asked questions
Who faces arrest warrants in the Radio Pakistan case?
Sohail Afridi, Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Kamran Khan Bangash, Irfan Saleem and Amir Khan Chamkani. A Peshawar anti-terrorism court issued the warrants after the challan was submitted.
