Reporting snapshot · 22 September 2026. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Public Health Engineering Fazal Shakoor Khan is missing after unidentified armed men allegedly intercepted his vehicle at gunpoint near the exit of the Peshawar Motorway on the afternoon of Monday, 21 September, according to his staff, family and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders. The account below is a dated snapshot: the incident is described as an "alleged" abduction because the identity, uniform and authority of the men involved could not be independently confirmed, and a contrasting account circulating online suggested a checkpoint encounter. An FIR was registered at Chamkani police station on 21 September and a recovery petition was filed in the Peshawar High Court on Tuesday, with the hearing fixed for Wednesday. This article reflects the accounts carried by Dawn and The Express Tribune, which were reviewed on 22 September 2026.
What happened
Fazal Shakoor Khan, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provincial minister for public health engineering, was allegedly taken by unidentified masked armed men at gunpoint near the exit of the Peshawar Motorway on the afternoon of Monday, 21 September, his personal secretary, Alam Khan, told Dawn. The minister was travelling from Charsadda to Peshawar to attend a meeting, and armed men described as wearing police uniforms stopped his car in the limits of Chamkani police station and moved him to an undisclosed location, according to the staff account reported by the newspaper.
His driver, Qaiser Khan, and a police constable, Mujahid, who were travelling with him, were also reported missing after the incident. A video circulated by PTI showed several masked armed men approaching the minister’s car, with one opening the door while another appears to fire shots at the vehicle’s tyres; the footage could not be independently verified.
The alleged abduction came as the government stepped up pressure on the opposition ahead of PTI’s planned 27 September long march on Islamabad. Over the preceding days, authorities had detained three of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s sisters under the Maintenance of Public Order law — a move KhabarWire reported on 21 September — and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the government was weighing legal options for the province, including Governor’s Rule, which KhabarWire also reported.
The FIR and the court petition
A case was registered at Chamkani police station on the complaint of the minister’s brother, retired Major Anwar Aziz, against unidentified armed men. The first information report, dated 21 September and seen by Dawn, alleged that Fazal, his driver and the constable were abducted by unidentified armed men near the M-1 toll plaza on Monday afternoon. The FIR invoked Section 365 (kidnapping or abduction) of the Pakistan Penal Code, and stated that the official vehicle was left at the spot.
On Tuesday, a petition was filed in the Peshawar High Court through advocate Bashir Khan Wazir seeking Fazal’s recovery. The plea, also filed on the complaint of Anwar Aziz, asked the court to direct the police and other law enforcement agencies to recover the minister, whose whereabouts remained unknown to his family, and to constitute a high-level inquiry committee to investigate the incident. The petition said the minister was taken by armed men in black uniforms and plain clothes and described the alleged abduction in broad daylight as a matter of serious concern.
The petition is fixed for hearing on Wednesday, 23 September, before a division bench comprising Senior Puisne Judge Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Kamran Hayat Miankhel. The petitioner maintained that if the missing minister was in the custody of any state institution or other authority, he should be produced before the court and released if his detention was found unlawful.
The provincial assembly’s response
The alleged abduction and a separate incident involving another provincial minister dominated an emergency session of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday evening, reported The Express Tribune. Law Minister Aftab Alam told the House that Shakeel Khan, the minister for communications and works, had been targeted the previous day, after which an FIR was registered against him, and that Fazal Shakoor was “abducted in broad daylight”, asking what message this sent to the provincial executive.
Speaker Babar Saleem Swati demanded a mandatory loyalty oath for federal officers deputed to the province and accused the provincial police chief of misconduct, alleging that armed and masked men had taken away the minister in the presence of police. During the late-night session, attended by Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and the Chief Secretary, government members charged that arrests and cases against provincial figures were designed to derail the planned 27 September march. Interior Minister Tariq Saeed told the House he had directed the inspector general to inquire into the Shakeel Khan case and ensure registration of an FIR in the Fazal Shakoor abduction, with a committee under his supervision to oversee an investigation.
In a statement posted on X, KP Information Minister Shafi Jan termed the “picking up” of Fazal a “direct attack on the Constitution, law, democracy and public mandate”, saying the party would continue its constitutional struggle. PTI workers protested in Charsadda and Malakand, and the party announced a demonstration at Farooq Azam Chowk on Tuesday afternoon.
The Shakeel Khan incident and the wider crackdown
The Fazal Shakoor case was closely tied in the assembly debate to a separate incident involving Communications and Works Minister Shakeel Khan in Malakand. According to Dawn, an FIR was registered against Shakeel Khan under terrorism-related and other provisions after a firing incident involving his security detail and CTD personnel on the Batkhela bypass, with raids launched to arrest him; Shakeel Khan gave a different version, submitting an application seeking a case against unidentified armed men whom he alleged had fired at him in an attempted abduction.
The two incidents unfolded as the federal government mobilised against PTI’s planned 27 September march. Authorities sealed the Red Zone in Islamabad with containers and suspended routine leave for the capital police, while interior minister Naqvi warned the party against heading into what he called a “dead-end street”. PTI’s interim chairman, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, said the party would march peacefully and that the rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution would prevail.
Why it matters
The alleged abduction of a sitting provincial minister in broad daylight, if established, would mark a major escalation in the confrontation between the PTI-led KP government and federal authorities in the run-up to the 27 September march. It also feeds a broader dispute over the MPO detentions of Imran Khan’s sisters and the federal government’s declared intention to enforce an Islamabad High Court order barring parties from occupying the capital’s roads. The provincial government has framed the incidents as evidence that federal agencies are trying to cripple the province’s elected administration; the federal government has not publicly confirmed or denied responsibility.
What is still uncertain
The most important uncertainty is what actually happened at the toll plaza. The family, staff and PTI describe an abduction by masked men; a contrasting account circulating online suggested the minister’s vehicle was stopped at a checkpoint and that his guards opened fire. Neither version has been independently confirmed, and the identity and institutional affiliation of the men involved remain unknown. Where the minister is now, whether he was formally arrested or detained, and whether the Peshawar High Court orders a recovery effort on 23 September are open questions. The rival accounts of the Shakeel Khan firing — an FIR against him versus his counter-complaint — also remain unresolved.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 22 September 2026. The account of the incident rests on the staff, family and party versions reported by Dawn and The Express Tribune; the FIR and Peshawar High Court petition are the primary records, as described by Dawn. The contrasting checkpoint account circulated online and could not be independently verified.
- Dawn — KP minister 'abducted' from motorway, claims PTI22 September 2026 · Primary reporting of the incident, the staff account, the circulating video, the FIR against Shakeel Khan, and the protests in Charsadda and Malakand.
- Dawn — PHC to take up plea seeking recovery of 'abducted' KP minister Fazal Shakoor22 September 2026 · Reports the Chamkani FIR (Section 365 PPC), the PHC recovery petition filed through Bashir Khan Wazir, and the hearing fixed for 23 September.
- The Express Tribune — Uproar in K-P Assembly over minister 'abduction'22 September 2026 · Independent account of the emergency assembly session, the Speaker's loyalty-oath demand, and the interior minister's directions for an investigation.
