By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s main opposition party resumed its march towards Islamabad on Monday to demand the release of the jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, defying a federal government that has vowed to stop any gathering in the capital and is weighing emergency powers in the province leading the protest.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) convoy, led by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief minister, Sohail Afridi, set off from Karak towards Kohat after spending the night in the town. It left later than planned: Afridi had said supporters from Karak would join at noon, with departure at 12.30pm.
The march began on Sunday in Lakki Marwat, in the north-west, after negotiations with the government failed to produce a deal. Afridi arrived by helicopter to lead the march, which PTI said had begun in instalments.
Speaking to supporters at Karak’s Jail Chowk, Afridi cast the march as a fight for Khan’s freedom. “We have to win this war of freedom for Imran Khan,” he said. “My youth, my Pakistanis, it is your duty to come out and support him.”
He also answered Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who had called him “immature” a day earlier. “If standing with my people is immaturity, then I will commit this immaturity again and again,” Afridi said. He accused those in power of dividing the country with “wrong policies drafted behind closed doors” and warned that, if the situation crossed all limits, neither he nor anyone else would be able to control the public.
Khan, ousted by a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022, has been in prison since August 2023 on corruption and other charges that he says are politically motivated.
Talks collapse
Negotiations chaired by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq ended in deadlock on Saturday night. The government, represented by a joint team with the Pakistan Peoples Party, wanted PTI to call off the march. The opposition delegation, drawn from PTI and the Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayeen-e-Pakistan alliance, wanted assurances that Khan could be visited.
According to PTI, the government agreed to restore meetings between Khan and his family and lawyers from Tuesday, but declined to make access to him part of a written agreement. PTI also cited his medical treatment and the federal counterterrorism policy as sticking points.
Naqvi blamed Afridi for the breakdown, accusing him of repeatedly changing an agreed draft, and declared the talks over. He also warned that Afridi would be held responsible if anyone died during the march.
PTI’s secretary-general, Salman Akram Raja, said on Monday that access to Khan for party leaders, relatives and lawyers remained the central demand. “Our basic and first demand will always be that Imran Khan should be included in all the talks,” he told reporters. “Without him, nothing can be resolved.” He described the talks as preliminary and said PTI remained open to more.
The negotiations also exposed differences over security. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa borders Afghanistan and has seen a rise in militant violence. Islamabad wants closer provincial cooperation against militants, while PTI demands political consultation over security operations. Afridi has repeatedly rejected new military operations and drone strikes in the province.
Threat of emergency rule
Naqvi met the provincial governor, Faisal Karim Kundi, in Peshawar on Sunday. Governor House said it would play its “full constitutional role” if the president and prime minister decided that governor’s rule or an emergency was needed. Naqvi has said the government is considering its legal options, including governor’s rule, if circumstances warrant. No decision has been announced.
Kundi said an emergency could be imposed if necessary to “save the province”. “If an emergency is imposed, I alone will be enough for them,” he said, claiming PTI workers were “hiding and getting themselves arrested”.
Both Afridi and PTI reject the idea. “The imposition of governor’s rule or a state of emergency are political bluffing as such steps lack legal feasibility and would be rejected by the public,” said PTI information secretary Shaikh Waqas Akram.
Capital braces
In Islamabad, police said they had cut the number of entrances to the Red Zone, which houses Parliament, senior government offices and foreign embassies, to one or two. Shipping containers have been placed near sensitive areas and routes into the city.
“Right now, no road is closed for going to any area of Islamabad,” a police spokesperson said. “However, regarding the Red Zone, where there were multiple entries to the Red Zone, we have brought it down to one or two entries.”
Road restrictions have also hit trade. Transporters are avoiding journeys north for fear their trucks and containers will be seized for use as barricades, contributing to cargo backlogs at Karachi, Pakistan’s main port.
Earlier marches have turned violent. A November 2024 protest ended in a crackdown in Islamabad, with the government reporting deaths among security forces and PTI saying 12 of its supporters were killed. Officials denied that protesters were shot dead.
Arrests and restrictions
Section 144, which bans gatherings, was imposed on roads in Dera Ismail Khan, Upper and Lower South Waziristan, Tank and Hangu for varying periods. Internet services were suspended in Karak.
On Monday the former chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur, who was leading workers from Dera Ismail Khan to Lakki Marwat, turned back at Yarik because of road blockades. He said the party had told workers not to damage public property and insisted the U-turn was temporary, not a withdrawal.
In Karachi, police blocked roads and detained party workers. PTI claimed that more than 75 of its leaders and workers, including women, were held in the city, and that arrests elsewhere in Sindh, including Sukkur, took the provincial total above 100.
The party postponed its original September 27 march to October 4. The convoy is due to stay overnight in Kohat, where caravans from Kohat, Hangu, Kurram and Orakzai are to join on Tuesday before it heads for Peshawar and an overnight halt near Mattani.
On Wednesday it is due to leave Budh Bair in Peshawar and stop near the Charsadda interchange, before moving on to Khairabad, on the border with Punjab, on Thursday. Afridi has said the next phase will be announced there. He has not said when the convoy will enter Punjab or move on Islamabad, saying only that no one can imagine the next plan.
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