Pakistan: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi alleged on Monday that he was abducted and later left by the roadside in Lahore, a claim rejected by Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari, who said the chief minister voluntarily entered a police vehicle during a confrontation involving PTI workers.
Afridi said he was taken away by authorities and later abandoned after pressure was exerted on those holding him.
“We were abducted and, when they came under pressure from somewhere, they threw me by the roadside, left me without security and drove away,” Afridi said.
He alleged that there had been a conspiracy to abduct the chief minister of a province and warned that such actions could deepen divisions in the country.
A senior KP government official who was travelling with Afridi gave a different account. The official said Afridi entered a Punjab Police vehicle voluntarily in an attempt to secure the release of PTI workers detained during the day’s clashes.
According to the official, some workers were released while others remained inside the vehicle. Afridi allegedly refused to leave while the detained workers were still inside.
The official said police later drove the vehicle away from the original location before removing Afridi from it.
Was Afridi Abducted or Did He Enter the Police Vehicle Voluntarily?
Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari rejected the abduction allegation and said Afridi entered the police vehicle voluntarily.
Footage shared by Bokhari showed Afridi walking towards the police vehicle and getting inside. In later footage, he appeared to refuse requests to leave the vehicle, while a person could be heard asking him to exit.
Bokhari said PTI supporters had gathered around the police vehicle, prompting officers to believe that the vehicle was under threat.
She said the driver subsequently moved the vehicle a short distance before stopping and allowing people to leave.
Bokhari also rejected claims that Afridi had been formally arrested, saying no police officers were present when he was later seen sitting by the roadside. She said his security personnel and a cameraman were with him.
The competing accounts could not immediately be independently reconciled.
Afridi’s own official X account also carried conflicting descriptions of the incident. One post said he had himself boarded a Punjab Police van and reached a police station, while another described him as being with PTI workers at a protest on Lahore’s Mall Road.
Why Has the Lahore Incident Escalated Into a Provincial Political Dispute?
The incident triggered a political confrontation between the KP and Punjab governments, with PTI leaders accusing Punjab authorities of targeting an elected chief minister.
KP Information Minister Shafi Jan backed Afridi’s allegations, claiming that Punjab Police had separated the chief minister from his security detail and forcibly moved him to another vehicle before taking him to a remote location.
Jan described the alleged incident as police high-handedness and warned that any attempt to abduct an elected chief minister would have serious implications for relations between the provinces.
PTI also condemned what it described as Afridi’s arrest in Punjab, saying the incident undermined the mandate of voters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The party said the confrontation could increase mistrust and political tensions between the provinces, while insisting that it would not promote provincialism, ethnic hatred or division.
The dispute followed Afridi’s visit to Lahore, where he had travelled to offer condolences to the family of a senior PTI worker who died from burn injuries.
His convoy encountered police blockades at several points, while PTI workers gathered along the route and clashed with police, according to accounts from the KP government.
Afridi later announced plans for a nationwide street movement on September 27 and criticised the Punjab government over the treatment of his convoy.
The KP chief minister also rejected Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s statement that she felt threatened by the other three provinces, saying he did not consider the people of Punjab a threat.
The episode has added another layer to tensions between the PTI-led KP government and the Punjab administration, with both sides offering sharply different accounts of the events in Lahore.