Claim: An image shows the now-dysfunctional KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi being escorted by security officers after the federal government removed its provincial counterpart, imposed emergency, and implemented governor rule.

Fact: The image is AI-generated.

On 12 October 2026, social media users shared an image purportedly showing the now-dysfunctional Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Sohail Afridi being escorted by security officers after he and other leaders of his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), were taken into what a government official claimed was “preventive custody”.

Some of the captions accompanying the viral image are as follows:

• “عوام کا دو تہاٸ اکثریت سے منتخب کردہ وزیراعلیٰ سہیل آفریدی قابل نفرت ادارے کے اہلکاروں نے اغوا کر لیا ۔ [Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, elected by the public with a two-thirds majority, was abducted by personnel of a detested institution.]”
• “وزیراعلیٰ خیبرپختونخوا سہیل آفریدی کی گرف ت اری کی مبینہ تصویر جس میں پولیس اور س س کی ورٹی اہلکار انہیں ہاتھ پیچھے باندھ کر لے جاتے دکھائی دے رہے ہیں۔ پولیس حکام کے مطابق وزیراعلیٰ سہیل آفریدی، اسپیکر صوبائی اسمبلی بابر سلیم سواتی، جنید اکبر سمیت 8 اہم پی ٹی آئی رہنما سی ایم ہاؤس سے حراست میں لیے گئے ہیں۔ [An alleged image showing the arrest of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, in which police and security personnel are seen escorting him with his hands tied behind his back. According to police officials, eight key PTI leaders — including Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, Provincial Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, and Junaid Akbar — have been taken into custody from the CM House.]”
• “غلام قوم کا آزاد وزیر اعلیٰ محمد سہیل آفریدی [The independent chief minister of an enslaved nation Muhammad Sohail Afridi]”
• “وزیرِ اعلیٰ سہیل آفریدی 💔🥺 [Chief Minister Sohail Afridi 💔🥺]”
• “وزیر اعلی سہیل آفریدی کے گرفتاری کے حوالے سے سوشل میڈیا پر وائرل ہونے والی تصویر [A photo that is viral on social media regarding the arrest of Chief Minister Sohail Afridi.]”

Screenshot of one of the viral posts

PTI’s Long March

On 25 September 2026, the PTI announced postponing its long-planned protest — originally set to take place on 27 September — to 4 October. The “Long March” is aimed at demanding the release of the party founder and Pakistan’s former Prime Minister, Imran Khan, from prison, where he has been incarcerated since August 2023 over various charges.

At the time, the government took major steps to restrict the scheduled protest that some commentators and citizens said were disruptive and mishandled. In addition, there was a wave of preventive arrests targeting PTI’s organisers and associated figures, including Khan’s sisters.

Amnesty International termed the arrests a “flagrant violation of human rights.”

On 2 October, the military’s top brass issued a warning that “any attempt to cause agitation or create [a] 9 May-like situation, on any pretext whatsoever, will be dealt with decisive force and rule of law, without hesitation and discrimination”, according to a statement issued by its media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), following the 277th Corps Commanders’ Conference.

At the same time, representatives from the federal government and the PTI met to discuss an alternate way forward on 2 and 3 October but the talks ended in a deadlock.

On 4 October, Afridi finally launched the “Long March” from southern KP. In the following days, the participants progressed through the outskirts of Peshawar before travelling through Kohat and Darra Adam Khel.

By 8 October, as the rally reached Attock and Khairabad borders, authorities blocked entryways to the country’s capital, Islamabad. The intended route for the march was reportedly changed several times since it was launched.

Law enforcement agencies intensified their defensive posture around the federal capital and Rawalpindi, with Section 144 imposed in Islamabad and Punjab.

On 11 October, Section 144 was also imposed in Karachi for 10 days, effective immediately.

KP gov’t suspended, emergency imposed

However, on 11 October, President Asif Ali Zardari signed a summary to remove the KP government and impose an emergency in the province, paving the way for governor’s rule, following “decisions by the Federal Cabinet, the Prime Minister [Shehbaz Sharif’s] advice, reports from relevant agencies regarding the law-and-order situation, and the failure of negotiations” with the Centre.

The federal government’s move came amid what it claimed was the KP administration’s “deliberate disengagement from the fight against terrorism”, as well as its failure “to tackle Islamist militancy”, a move that senior PTI leader Zulfiqar ‘Zulfi’ Bukhari alleged was “more of a coup disguised as emergency”.

The PTI also announced that some of its leaders, including Afridi and the party’s KP president, Junaid Akbar, “had been taken into custody”.

On 12 October, State Interior Minister Tallal Chaudhry said the now-dysfunctional CM and some members of his Cabinet were “taken into preventive custody”, Geo News and Reuters reported.

The same day, Dawn quoted a senior police official as saying that “eight people — including Afridi, MNA Junaid Akbar, and assembly speaker Babar Saleem Swati — had been taken into ‘preventative custody’”.

A day later, Afridi’s brother Muhammad Aamir petitioned the Peshawar High Court (PHC) “seeking his immediate recovery, arguing that his alleged abduction and continued detention violated his fundamental rights and demanding an independent judicial inquiry into his disappearance”, The Express Tribune reported.

Fact or Fiction?

Soch Fact Check searched for authentic reporting by credible media outlets about the purported image but did not find any.

We then ran the visual through OpenAI’s own detector, which said the image was generated using its tools and that it “found a SynthID watermark that originated from” the company’s models.

Screenshot of the result from OpenAI’s verification tool

We were able to trace the image to X (formerly Twitter) user @Shararti_Ai, who describes themselves as “Ai Creator/political analyst”. The word “Shararti” means “mischievous” in Urdu.

The 12 October 2026 post by @Shararti_Ai is accompanied by the following caption:

“وہ پڑی ہے پانچ کروڑ کے صوبے کے ووٹ کی عزت 🖐️ ہم اس توہین کا بدلہ ضرور لیں گے انشااللہ ✌️🙏 #گورنر_راج_نامنطور
[There goes the state of respect for the vote of a province of 50 million people 🖐️ We will certainly avenge this insult, God willing ✌️🙏 #GovernorRuleRejected]”

A “Made with AI” label is visible on the bottom-left of the X post, indicating “manipulated and AI-generated media”, according to the platform’s Media Literacy Action Plan.

Screenshot of a post by X user @Shararti_Ai from 12 October 2026 that contains a “Made with AI” label

Therefore, we conclude that the image is AI-generated.

Virality

Soch Fact Check found the image shared by dozens of Facebook users and pages, including in public groups.

It was also shared at least eight times each on Instagram and Threads, as well as six times on X.

Conclusion: The image is AI-generated. No credible images of Afridi’s detention have been shared online at the time of publishing.

Background image in cover photo: ImMuhammadSohailAfridi

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