The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday sought replies from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the provincial inspector general of police on petitions concerning Sohail Afridi detention, as the non-functional chief executive remains unseen since the imposition of governor’s rule on October 11.
A bench of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Farah Jamshed took up multiple pleas filed by the families of detained PTI leaders. The court directed the respondents to file replies and fixed November 3 for the next hearing.
Sohail Afridi detention: what the petitions allege
Afridi has not been seen since the federal government imposed governor’s rule and emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on October 11. His whereabouts were unknown on the day the measure was imposed, and a federal minister confirmed a day later that he and some cabinet members were in preventive custody.
The PTI has also alleged the detention and arrest of several other members, including lawmakers and ministers, whose whereabouts the government has not disclosed so far.
One petition was filed by Afridi’s brother, Muhammad Aamir, who alleged that Afridi was “abducted” from the Chief Minister’s House on the night the emergency was imposed. Aamir had approached the high court last week seeking directives for the KP IG, the Peshawar capital city police officer and others to trace and recover his brother.
He also asked the court to order Afridi’s production if found in custody, so the legality of his detention can be examined under Article 199(1)(b)(i) of the Constitution. That provision allows a high court to direct that a person in custody be brought before it, so the court can satisfy itself that the person is not being held without lawful authority.
Claims of abduction from CM House and assembly
Presenting arguments at Tuesday’s hearing, Aamir’s lawyer Bashir Vazir claimed that on October 11 at about 2pm, Afridi was “illegally detained” at the Chief Minister’s House and later taken away from the premises by “certain unknown armed and masked individuals” in the presence of the Peshawar CCPO.
He contended that the detention was “wholly illegal, unlawful, without lawful authority and of no legal effect” because the respondents had disclosed no lawful order, warrant or other legal authority for taking Afridi into custody.
A similar petition was filed by Waqar Ahmad Khan, the cousin of KP Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati. His lawyer, Inam Yousufzai, claimed that Swati was “abducted” from the KP Assembly on October 11 at about 7pm, also in the presence of the CCPO, by unknown armed and masked individuals.
Pleas were also filed by the nephew of MNA Junaid Akbar, Nadir Shah, and by the brother of former Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister Khalid Khursheed, Hanif Ullah, seeking the recovery and production of the two politicians.
The petitioners asked the court to order the preservation of all CCTV footage, security logs, entry and exit registers, duty rosters and vehicle records linked to the incidents. They also sought the registration of a first information report and a prompt, impartial investigation, along with the release of the leaders if they are found in unlawful custody.
A timeline of the KP crisis
The petitions are the latest turn in a crisis that began on October 11 with the imposition of governor’s rule. Questions were raised over Afridi’s whereabouts the same week, as the province braced for a prolonged legal and political standoff.
The standoff has spilled beyond the courts. Lawyers boycotted courts across KP over the governor’s rule, while PPP leader Sharjeel Memon called his party the last to support the emergency. The federal government, meanwhile, has offered an all-party consensus on counterterrorism if the opposition is willing.
Whether the November 3 hearing produces answers on where Afridi and the other leaders are being held will shape the next phase of the crisis.
What did the Peshawar High Court order?
It sought replies from the KP government, the IG and other officials on petitions about Sohail Afridi’s detention, with the next hearing on November 3.
Who filed the petitions?
Afridi’s brother Muhammad Aamir, the cousin of Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, and relatives of Junaid Akbar and Khalid Khursheed.
What does Article 199(1)(b)(i) say?
It lets a high court order a person in custody to be produced before it, to check the detention is lawful.
When was governor’s rule imposed in KP?
On October 11, 2026, along with a state of emergency in the province.
