By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party announced on Monday that it would hold a major rally in Rawalpindi on April 9, the anniversary of the no-confidence vote that removed its founder, Imran Khan, as prime minister in 2022.
Party leaders said they would seek court intervention if the authorities refused to grant permission, and warned of wider protests if the event was blocked. Khan, 73, has been imprisoned since August 2023 on convictions that he and the PTI have repeatedly described as politically motivated. The planned gathering at Liaquat Bagh, a traditional venue for political rallies, comes amid heightened tensions between the PTI and the ruling coalition led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
At a news conference in Islamabad, PTI leaders from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including the province’s chief minister, Sohail Afridi, and the provincial party president, Junaid Akbar, insisted the rally would proceed as a peaceful expression of political rights. Akbar said the party would hold the event on the scheduled date and emphasised its commitment to nonviolent protest. He added that if permission was withheld, the PTI would organize demonstrations wherever necessary.
Afridi, addressing the same briefing, described PTI workers as a “political entity” rather than an “armed mob,” accusing the federal government of seeking only to silence Khan. He called on the authorities to issue a no-objection certificate for the rally, saying the party would handle all security and logistical arrangements itself. The chief minister also criticized the government’s economic management, noting that 45 percent of Pakistanis now live below the poverty line.
The announcement followed a closed-door meeting of opposition leaders in the National Assembly chamber reserved for the opposition. According to participants, the session focused on candidate selection for upcoming Senate elections and coordination of a broader protest strategy. Those present included PTI chairman Barrister Gohar, Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, Senate opposition leader Allama Nasir Abbas and National Assembly opposition leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai.
Afterward, Gohar told reporters informally at Parliament House that the party would approach the courts if permission for the Rawalpindi rally was denied. He described the event as intended to demonstrate the PTI’s commitment to peaceful political activity. The developments underscored the persistent friction between the PTI and the government more than three years after Khan’s ouster. The former prime minister’s continued detention has remained a central rallying point for his supporters, who view the legal cases against him as part of a systematic effort to sideline the party.
Separately, a judicial magistrate in Karachi on Monday granted bail to 24 PTI workers and leaders arrested a day earlier during a protest near the Karachi Press Club against rising fuel prices linked to the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran. The group had been detained after clashing with police on Sunday.
Judicial Magistrate Abdul Ahad Memon approved their release on surety bonds of 5,000 rupees each. However, an anti-terrorism court sent four other PTI leaders — Alamgir Khan, Meeraj, Khalid Mehmood and Daawa Khan — to judicial remand in connection with an unrelated case. The four had been arrested on Sunday but were also implicated in an earlier incident involving rioting during a rally at Banaras Chowk on Aug. 24, 2025, at Peerabad police station in Karachi.
PTI counsel Advocate Shujaat Ali Khan said police had produced the four men before the anti-terrorism court’s administrative judge and initially sought physical remand for interrogation. After hearing arguments from the defense, the judge ordered them held on judicial remand instead.
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