By Staff Reporter
LAKKI MARWAT/ISLAMABAD: Supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan set off on a march towards Islamabad from north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday, after talks with the government failed to break the deadlock.
Sohail Afridi, the chief minister of the province, where Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party holds power, flew into Lakki Marwat by helicopter to lead the procession from Gandi Chowk on the Peshawar-Karachi Indus Highway. A special helipad had been prepared near Maidadkhel. Video shared on social media showed a crowd of party workers surrounding it as he landed, and later showed his convoy hemmed in by supporters.
The march got under way from Gandi Chowk in the evening, with senior party figures including Junaid Akbar accompanying Afridi. The first leg is due to reach Khairabad on 8 October. The PTI says it will announce the “next phase” there, and has not said how or whether it intends to proceed to the capital.
The demonstrators want Khan freed. They also want him moved to a hospital and his family allowed to visit him. Officials say he is in good health and receives regular family visits, but that such meetings cannot be used for political purposes.
Khan, a former cricket star, was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022 and has been imprisoned since 2023 on corruption and other charges that he and his party say are politically motivated. He remains popular. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif returned to office after the February 2024 election, which the PTI says was rigged. The government denies this.
The use of the helicopter drew immediate criticism from Islamabad. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar accused Afridi of using a “state helicopter for a political march”, calling it a violation of a recent Islamabad High Court ruling that directed provincial governments not to use official resources or machinery to facilitate marches or gatherings.
“Terrorism is spreading in the province and Nero is playing his flute,” he wrote on X.
The provincial governor, Faisal Karim Kundi, said it amounted to contempt of court. “When the chief minister himself does not uphold the court’s orders and uses state resources for political activities, what expectation can there be for his workers to abide by the law?” he wrote.
The PTI struck a defiant tone. In a post on X, it said the “struggle against fascism and lawlessness” would continue until the constitution and law were upheld and all political prisoners, including Khan, were released.
The march follows two days of negotiations chaired by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, which ended on Sunday morning without agreement. According to sources familiar with the talks, the government wanted the PTI to cancel the march first, while the opposition wanted the government to arrange a meeting with Khan.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Sunday that the talks had collapsed because the PTI had begun its march, and accused Afridi of sabotaging the negotiations. He said the agreement had been prepared and that the chief minister then tried to wreck it. He claimed that 99 percent of points had been agreed. He said the government had not asked the PTI to postpone the march, and had warned that talks would end if it went ahead. “If even one life is lost, Sohail Afridi will be responsible,” he said.
PM Sharif had urged the PTI to postpone, citing a surge in militant attacks in the north-west, where the Pakistani Taliban have stepped up their campaign. His government has accused the PTI of sympathising with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The PTI rejects this. Federal ministers have also warned that the Centre could impose governor’s rule or an emergency in the province, a step the PTI says would have dire consequences.
The march was originally set for 27 September, but was postponed to 4 October after party leaders said authorities had blocked key approaches to Islamabad, including Attock Bridge, a major crossing for convoys from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Authorities have placed shipping containers across roads at the entrance to the capital and inside the city.
The security presence at Gandi Chowk was heavy, with a large police contingent, armoured personnel carriers and bomb disposal squads deployed.
Section 144, which restricts the movement of people and vehicles, has been imposed in several districts. In Dera Ismail Khan, traffic on specified routes is banned between 6am and 6pm from 4 to 6 October. In Upper South Waziristan, cargo vehicles, rickshaws and dumpers are barred from 3 to 5 October because of a possible vehicle-borne suicide bomb threat in neighbouring areas. In Lower South Waziristan, restrictions on loader rickshaws, cargo vehicles and dumpers run from 1 to 10 October. Tank has restrictions from 9pm on 3 October until noon on 5 October, and Hangu has banned traffic on six routes from 3 to 6 October. Law enforcement agencies and emergency services are exempt.
Tariq Saad, the chief minister’s special assistant for home and tribal affairs, said supporters from Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and North and South Waziristan would gather at Gandi Chowk. He said those in Tank and the Waziristans who could not attend because of curfews and other restrictions would join the march on the way to Peshawar the next day.
Earlier, a convoy led by the former chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur set out from Dera Ismail Khan to join the march, travelling via Yarik and Pezu. Gandapur urged supporters to avoid violence, vandalism and confrontation with police, and to follow a policy of “live and let live”.
“Those who block roads or engage in confrontation are not our workers,” he said. “We have made sacrifices for Imran Khan before and will not hesitate to make further sacrifices.”
The caravan is due to halt overnight near Karak, then move on to Kohat on Monday. Supporters from Kohat, Hangu, Kurram and Orakzai are expected to join on Tuesday, before the convoy heads for Peshawar and stops near Mattani. On Wednesday it is due to leave Budh Bair in Peshawar, with more supporters joining at Kohat Road Bridge and the Motorway Toll Plaza, and to spend the night near the Charsadda interchange. On Thursday it leaves Charsadda for Khairabad.
Previous protests by Khan’s supporters have turned violent, including one in 2024 in which security personnel and civilians were killed.
