Last Updated on September 15, 2026 by YeJahan
MUHAMMAD BIN SAEED
LAHROE (Sept 15): The Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sohail Afridi, shocked onlookers and commuters on a busy Lahore thoroughfare on Monday when he was seen sitting on a footpath near Lakshmi Chowk entirely stripped of his official security protocol. The highly unusual sight left passersby in disbelief on the heavily congested road.
Sohail Afridi has accused the Punjab government of grave misconduct, claiming he was forcibly detained and later left abandoned on the roadside by Lahore Police following a high-stakes standoff during a political rally. Conversely, the Punjab government has strongly rejected the allegations, labeling the incident a staged political stunt and maintaining that the Chief Minister boarded a police vehicle voluntarily.
Afridi had traveled to Lahore—the political stronghold of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)—to mobilize supporters ahead of an upcoming nationwide protest march planned by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
The Chief Minister stated that he and his team were effectively abducted by provincial authorities. He claimed that after the Punjab administration faced external pressure regarding his detention, police officers abruptly dropped him on the side of the road without his official security detail.
Reporters at the scene noted that Afridi had initially boarded a police van voluntarily near Mall Road. His intention was to protest the crackdown and negotiate the immediate release of several PTI activists, including Lahore President Mian Akram Usman and leader Shabbir Gujjar, who had been picked up by police.
The Lahore Police have denied taking the Chief Minister into custody; however, department officials have yet to clarify why a sitting provincial chief executive was ultimately left on a public road without institutional security protocols.
The incident has triggered sharp political backlash. Talking to Yejahan News Network, a senior PTI official condemned the action, pointing out that Pakistan is currently facing a heightened wave of terrorism and that Afridi governs a province heavily targeted by militant groups, specifically Fitna al-Khwarij.
“Under these volatile security conditions, abandoning a Chief Minister without protection amounts to both professional failure and criminal negligence,” the PTI official said while requesting anonymity.
Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari dismissed the claims as “drama,” maintaining that Afridi entered the police vehicle entirely of his own accord alongside his guards and a cameraman. According to provincial authorities, the police van driver drove away when PTI supporters swarmed the vehicle, eventually stopping a short distance away near Lakshmi Chowk, where Afridi disembarked.
Bokhari asserted that Afridi played up the situation, claiming that the Punjab government extended full protocol and respect to him, but “he proved he did not deserve it.”
