Police reject KP CM’s ‘assassination plot’ claim in Wazirabad

Gujranwala Police have rejected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi’s claim that his security team detained an armed man allegedly sent to assassinate him in Wazirabad, saying the individual was actually a police constable deployed for the chief minister’s security.

Afridi made the allegation in a video statement released early Wednesday, claiming that his security team had apprehended an armed man in civilian clothes after he arrived in Wazirabad. According to the chief minister, his team recovered a pistol from the man and handed him over to the local police.

The KP chief minister also alleged that he had faced several obstacles during his ongoing visit to Punjab. He said electricity supplies had been cut at his accommodation in Sialkot and that generators at two other locations had also been rendered unusable. He said he subsequently travelled to Wazirabad.

Afridi later repeated his allegation in a social media post, claiming that his security personnel had handed the detained man to Wazirabad City SHO Saqlain.

Police, however, presented a different account of the incident. Gujranwala Police said the detained individual was Constable Muqadas Ali, who had been assigned to the chief minister’s security detail.

According to police, the constable was allegedly subjected to severe physical assault by members of Afridi’s protection team. The police said the SHO was present at the scene and intervened to rescue the constable.

Authorities said the constable’s departmental identity had already been established at the scene and that he had presented his official identification card. Police expressed concern over what they described as the subsequent portrayal of the officer as an alleged killer.

Wazirabad City police also maintained that the constable was performing official security duties when the incident occurred. Officials said presenting a police officer deployed for security as an attacker was factually incorrect and unacceptable.

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari also backed the police version and criticised the KP chief minister’s allegations.

The latest dispute comes during Afridi’s ongoing political activities in Punjab ahead of the PTI’s planned nationwide protest on September 27.

The chief minister has made several allegations against Punjab authorities during the visit. Earlier, he claimed that authorities had “abducted” him in Lahore and later left him by the roadside. The Punjab government rejected the allegation, while a video released by Bokhari showed Afridi voluntarily approaching and boarding a police vehicle.

Afridi has also accused Punjab police of blocking routes, arresting party workers and removing tents from a protest camp. The Punjab government, meanwhile, imposed a ban on public gatherings across the province from September 13 to 17 and issued preventive detention orders against several PTI workers under the Maintenance of Public Order law.