CM KP Sohail Afridi stays in Lahore amid dispute over police van episode

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi spent Monday night at the residence of a local PTI leader in Lahore after a disputed incident involving a Punjab Police van triggered accusations of abduction and a denial from provincial authorities.

Afridi had accused the Punjab government of attempting to abduct him after videos circulated on social media showing him inside a police vehicle. Lahore police rejected the claim, saying the chief minister had voluntarily boarded the van and was not arrested or detained.

The incident has since escalated into a political dispute between the PTI-led KP government and the Punjab administration, with both sides offering sharply different accounts of what happened.

Afridi alleges abduction, Punjab rejects claim

Speaking after the incident, Afridi accused the Punjab government and police of abducting him, saying he was later taken to a roadside location and left there.

“The Punjab government should be ashamed,” Afridi said, warning that the Punjab government and Punjab Police would be responsible if anything happened to him in the province.

KP Information Minister Shafi Jan backed the chief minister’s account and questioned how Afridi could have ended up at the location if police had not detained him.

“If the police did not arrest him, how did Sohail Afridi get here?” Jan said, alleging that KP workers had followed the police vehicle and faced pressure before Afridi was made to leave it.

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari, however, dismissed the episode as “another drama”. She said Afridi had entered the police van himself despite police officials repeatedly asking him to get out.

Bukhari also claimed that Afridi told his security personnel to move away when they attempted to intervene.

Lahore police maintained that there had been no arrest or detention. Police officials said Afridi boarded the vehicle voluntarily and that it moved forward because of security concerns. The Lahore police chief said the impression that the chief minister was being held in custody was contrary to the facts and that adequate security had been provided to him.

Afridi remains in Lahore

Videos circulating on social media show Afridi standing with workers and security personnel before entering the Punjab Police van. In one clip, a police official can be heard asking him to leave the vehicle, but Afridi refuses before the driver moves it forward.

Another video shows Afridi seated inside the van with a worker and two security guards. The worker filming the footage can be heard alleging that the chief minister had been abducted.

Afridi later stayed overnight at the residence of a local PTI leader in Lahore. He also visited Zaman Park and met with Imran Khan’s sister, with the two discussing the former prime minister’s pending cases, health, meetings with family members and access to his personal physician, among other matters.