Pakistan court rejects investigator’s report on attack on Radio Pakistan — Dawn
An anti-terrorism court in Peshawar, Pakistan, found the investigator’s report in the case concerning the vandalism and arson attack on the Radio Pakistan building in May 2023 to be incomplete and rejected it. Judge Wali Mohammad Khan noted that the document did not contain the investigator’s conclusion and ordered him to submit a final report taking into account the findings of the Punjab Forensic Science Agency and Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).
The next hearing was scheduled for September 24. The case investigator and Deputy Superintendent of Police Khushal Khan are to submit the final report, Dawn reports.
Video examinations
Questions regarding the investigator’s report became a subject of discussion after the findings of two institutions were submitted earlier this year. The Punjab Forensic Science Agency stated that the facial features of five people matched those of individuals recorded in the video. At the same time, its conclusion did not state that these recordings concerned the attack on Radio Pakistan in Peshawar.
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The Nadra report listed national identity card numbers that the institution described as possible matches with profile photographs. Video clips and profile photographs of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, former provincial ministers Taimur Saleem Jhagra and Kamran Bangash, Peshawar district Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf head Irfan Saleem, and activist Amir Khan Chamkani were provided for examination.
Positions of the parties
Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation lawyer Shabbir Hussain Gigyani said that, under Article 19(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, the prosecution was required to submit to the court a case report and a charge sheet naming the people identified in the expert findings as accused persons. Special prosecutor Nomanul Haq Kakekhel questioned the corporation’s status as an aggrieved party and its engagement of a private lawyer.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf representatives had previously challenged the authenticity of the video recordings, claiming that they were not filmed during the attack on Radio Pakistan on May 10, 2023. Seventy-five defendants, including sitting and former legislators, are on trial in the case. They were charged on June 3, 2025, and pleaded not guilty.
