By Staff Reporter
PESHAWAR: The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), leading a march to demand the release of the jailed Imran Khan, has vowed not to allow another military operation in the province, deepening a confrontation with the establishment-backed government as it weighs its response.
Sohail Afridi, a member of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, brought his convoy into Khyber district on Wednesday, the fourth day of the protest. “I will not allow another military operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; I will resist anti-people policies till I am the chief minister,” he told supporters, according to a statement from his office.
The caravan left Mattani, on the outskirts of Peshawar, for Khyber and was due to stay there overnight. PTI officials had said the convoy would leave Mattani at 2pm.
The route has shifted repeatedly. The PTI had planned to take the chief minister to Khairabad, which borders Punjab’s Attock district, on 8 October and announce its next move there. Afridi’s office now says the march will go on to Swabi, where he will set out the next step. Omar Farooq, a member of the party’s social media team, said the final destination was still tentative. He said the march would reach Peshawar on Thursday and spend that night in Charsadda, a schedule also shared online by Yar Muhammad Khan Niazi, the chief minister’s focal person on social media.
The march was first scheduled for 27 September and was postponed to 4 October. It set off from Lakki Marwat on 4 October, with caravans from Tank, Dera Ismail Khan, North and South Waziristan and Bannu joining at the start. It stopped overnight in Karak, then reached Kohat, where groups from Hangu, Kurram and Orakzai joined. It then moved on to Mattani. Afridi announced the detour to Khyber on Tuesday, calling it part of the party’s strategy without saying why. He added that the march would head for Islamabad only when the PTI decided to go, and that no one could stop it then.
Islamabad has warned the PTI against any protest or gathering in the capital. The party is in government in KP and in opposition at the centre, and it named Islamabad as its final destination. On Tuesday, KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said the party lacked the capacity to go beyond Attock. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also urged the PTI to end the march and said talks would follow once it did.
Dispute over counterterrorism
The march follows the collapse of talks between the government and the opposition over the weekend. The PTI says its central demand was immediate access to Mr Khan, which it says the government refused to put in the proposed agreement. It also says the two sides split over what KP should do on terrorism. The PTI says the federal government wanted KP to back emergency measures in the merged tribal districts within 72 hours. It says it proposed instead that representatives of both governments agree a joint strategy within that period.
The government’s account differs. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi accused Afridi of sabotaging the negotiations. Tallal Chaudhry, the minister of state for interior, said the PTI delegation had accepted the government’s position on terrorism and a draft was ready. He said the opposition team then consulted the chief minister and left without signing. He added that further talks depended on the PTI calling off its marches, and that constitutional options were under discussion although the political route came first.
Barrister Gohar Khan, the PTI’s interim chairman, said the party’s talks with the government amounted to offers alone, and that the party had not met Khan since 16 October last year.
Speculation has grown that the centre may impose governor’s rule in KP. A government source said that the option was being seriously considered. Kundi said it would be a last resort, comparing it to surgery that follows medication, and that the province would carry it out if the president and prime minister ordered it. Mr Afridi has dismissed such warnings. Last week a federal minister said the legal conditions had already been met.
Tirah and the tribal districts
Afridi accused the centre of trying to push his government into backing another operation, saying it had tried to do so during the talks. “But I will never become a part of this policy,” he said.
Khyber is home to Tirah, whose residents agreed to leave their homes in December 2025 to make way for an operation against militants. Some displaced families have since voiced concern that promised support, including financial help, has not been delivered in full.
“The people of Tirah were displaced in extreme winter,” Mr Afridi said. Without naming anyone, he said those responsible had “no realisation of the hardships faced by the people”. He said people in the tribal areas had been content before the operations began, and that Mr Khan had opposed such operations since 2004.
He said his government had released Rs21bn for families affected by military operations. He accused the centre of withholding funds earmarked for the former tribal areas, including Khyber, since their merger with KP.
On Tuesday in Kohat, he said peace could be restored in KP within 100 days under a policy of his own, and called on the federal government to accept it. “What have you achieved after 14,000 intelligence-based operations and 22 major military operations?” he asked. Pointing to Balochistan, where the provincial government cooperates with the centre, he said the continued violence there showed the policy had failed. He said peace was impossible while the authorities pursued the PTI instead of terrorists.
Government and PTI trade charges
Shafi Jan, the KP government spokesman, said the reception in Kohat showed public backing for Mr Afridi. He was responding to Rana Sanaullah, who had said the government would not yield to political demands made under pressure or attempts to “hold the state hostage”. Mr Sanaullah also accused the PTI of seeking political instability and opposing intelligence-based counterterrorism operations.
Jan said KP had the “original Form 45 government”, one formed through the votes of the people and of Mr Khan’s mandate, which could not be removed by any political plan. Rejecting talk of Mr Afridi’s removal, he said critics “should worry about yourself”. He said any action against the provincial government would be met through constitutional and democratic means.
Jan said Afridi was demanding a meeting with Khan, access to his own doctors, justice for Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, and other family members, and decisions in his cases on merit. He said Afridi also wanted a comprehensive peace strategy drawn up with all stakeholders. He said the KP Assembly consultations had produced a 13-point plan signed by the opposition leader and other opposition figures and sent to the relevant parties. The march, he said, was continuing peacefully within the constitutional framework.
Before the march began, Section 144 restrictions were imposed on movement in parts of KP, including Dera Ismail Khan, South Waziristan, Tank and Hangu. Ali Amin Gandapur, the former chief minister, turned back from Yarik while leading workers from Dera Ismail Khan to Lakki Marwat, citing road blockades and the security situation. In Karachi, the PTI said police detained more than 75 of its leaders and workers, and that arrests elsewhere in Sindh brought the total above 100.
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