Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Local government, Elections and Rural Development Meena Khan Afridi on Sunday announced that the provincial government would set up an inquiry commission to probe the vandalism of the Radio Pakistan building in Peshawar during the riots on May 9, 2023.

Following the arrest of former prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan on May 9, 2023 from the Islamabad High Court’s premises, riots erupted across the country that went on for at least 24 hours. Public properties and military installations were also vadalised during the riots, including the Radio Pakistan building in KP’s provincial capital.

The announcement that the KP government would be forming a commission to probe the vandalism of the building was made by Meena Khan during a press conference alongside Adviser to the KP chief minister Shafiullah Jan in Peshawar today.

“Since it is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in our jurisdiction, our first cabinet will form an inquiry commission to probe what happened at the Radio Pakistan building in Peshawar,” Meena Khan said.

“This commission will probe who was behind what happened to [the] Radio Pakistan [building] and the CCTV footage will be analysed. We will see who opened the doors and also why that footage has not emerged yet.”

The provincial minister also spoke about a video showing KP CM Sohail Afridi, allegedly outside the Corps Commander House in Lahore during the riots, clarifying that the chief minister was in Peshawar at the time.

He said Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Information for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Affairs Ikhtiar Wali Khan spoke about the video during a press conference yesterday.

“They claimed he was in front of the building […], but they must understand that Sohail Afridi sahib was in Peshawar at the time,” he stated. “They cannot find any evidence [to back up their allegations] so they are resorting to lying.

“May 9 is a trap to pressure the PTI and Imran Khan. They are using it as an excuse against KP CM Sohail Afridi sahib; we condemn this.”

Jan also criticised Wali for showing the video during a press conference in Nowshera a day prior. He claimed the video was “edited”.

Fielding questions, Meena Khan said that the video was recorded during the Zaman Park standoff in March 2023, when police attempted to enter the Lahore compound to arrest the PTI founder.

“The video shown is not from May 9,” he emphasised, adding that the video had been edited and distorted. “The video is on Sohail Afridi sahib’s social media pages; anyone can check and see that the video is from two months before May 9. You can see the use of water cannons against our workers.”

Jan said that the PTI would respond to the “lies” spread by Wali, adding that “anyone who uses a false video will be given a befitting response”.