A court in Islamabad on Tuesday issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi after he repeatedly failed to appear in a case relating to alleged misleading statements and defamation of state institutions.
Senior Civil Judge Abbas Shah issued the warrants after observing that Afridi had neither appeared in person nor been represented by legal counsel despite being granted multiple opportunities to do so.
The judge noted that the court’s summons had not been complied with, directing authorities to execute the non-bailable arrest warrants to ensure the chief minister’s appearance at the next hearing on Sept 3.
The court also warned that if Afridi failed to appear on the next hearing date, proceedings would be initiated to declare him a proclaimed offender under the relevant provisions of law.
According to the case record, the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) registered the case against Afridi under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), Pakistan’s cybercrime law. The case alleges that the chief minister made misleading statements and defamatory remarks against state institutions through electronic media.
The warrants were issued after the court found that repeated summons had gone unanswered, prompting it to escalate the proceedings.
Separately, former senator and senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhry has approached the Supreme Court against the Lahore High Court’s refusal to suspend his sentence in a May 9 riots case.
Chaudhry, who is imprisoned in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail, has sought suspension of his sentence and release on bail, arguing that his conviction rests on disputed evidence and that the high court failed to provide adequate legal reasons for rejecting his plea.
