By Staff Reporter
PESHAWAR: Supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan marched into the northwestern city of Peshawar on Thursday, the fifth day of a protest convoy whose final destination has still not been announced.
The caravan, led by Sohail Afridi, chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, reached the Hayatabad Toll Plaza shortly after 6pm, according to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. It was well behind schedule. The provincial information minister, Shafi Jan, had published a timetable that morning with the convoy due at the plaza by 2pm.
Pictures posted by the party showed hundreds of supporters gathered to welcome Afridi. In a video, he raised the slogan “Free Imran Khan” while the crowd chanted back.
“There might be some discomfort, but this pain is not greater than the pain Imran Khan sahib is enduring in jail for us,” he told them. “We shall not hesitate to even sacrifice [our] life for Imran Khan sahib.” The PTI claimed the caravan would become “the largest long march in Pakistan’s history” by the time it reaches Swabi.
The march began on Sunday from Lakki Marwat. It moved on to Kohat, spent Tuesday night at Mattani on the outskirts of Peshawar, and reached Khyber district on Wednesday. It is intended to secure Khan’s release. He has been in prison since August 2023. Party figures also cite restricted access to the former cricketer, his prolonged detention and a dispute with the federal government over counterterrorism policy in KP. The protest was first scheduled for 27 September and later postponed.
The route has changed several times. Afridi had been expected to stop at Khairabad, on the border with Punjab’s Attock district, on Thursday. He has since said the convoy will go to Swabi, where he will reveal the party’s next move. He told supporters the detailed plan, which he called a “yorker”, a cricketing term for a ball aimed at the batter’s feet, would “thrill” the public.
The party’s KP general secretary, Ali Asghar Khan, said the marchers would stay in Peshawar on Thursday night, move to Charsadda on Friday, reach Mardan on 10 October and arrive in Swabi on 11 October. PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Khan gave the same dates in Charsadda. Party members told Arab News the convoy would then continue to Attock and, ultimately, Islamabad. The federal government has warned the party against protests or gatherings in the capital.
Government hardens its line
Defence minister Khawaja Asif said the government would not give in. Speaking to a local television channel, he accused the PTI of acting together with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and said the party’s “wishful thinking” was that it could blackmail the government. “If they resort to blackmail, I see no relief for [Imran Khan] in the future,” he said. He urged the party to “come to the negotiating table and return home” to run its province.
Gohar rejected the charge. He said the party had never supported terrorism but argued that national policy on the issue needed to be reviewed “in light of changing circumstances”. He said Afridi had never issued a statement in support of militants.
KP governor Faisal Karim Kundi, the federal government’s representative in the province, pointed to the deaths of dozens of soldiers, police officers and civilians in recent attacks. “On a daily basis, martyrdoms are taking place, and their circus is going on,” he told Arab News. He said any emergency measures were a matter for the president and prime minister. Dawn reported earlier this week that Kundi had said the march would not be allowed beyond Attock.
Federal ministers have repeatedly hinted at governor’s rule or an emergency in KP, citing terrorism. Mr Gohar rejected both and thanked the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), the Awami National Party and Jamaat-i-Islami for opposing governor’s rule. Mr Afridi told supporters that negotiations with the federal government had failed. He claimed officials had proposed allowing a military operation and a temporary emergency in the province, and said he had flatly rejected both. The PTI’s provincial president, Junaid Akbar, urged workers to gather outside the Governor House if either measure were imposed.
Two rounds of talks between the PTI and the government have collapsed. Shaukat Yousafzai, the party’s KP information secretary, said that JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman was trying to break the deadlock. Both government and party officials denied any direct contact. “There are absolutely no [direct] contacts,” Mr Yousafzai said.
He said access to Khan remained central to any settlement. “Without him, this long march cannot be called off,” he said. Kundi said he knew of no backdoor talks. Asif said he would ask opposition figure Mahmood Khan Achakzai to play a role.
Analysts have questioned how much momentum the march has. Peshawar-based journalist Mehmood Jan Babar said crowds had come out mainly in the chief minister’s home area, including Darra Adam Khel and Khyber, and then gone home. “There isn’t a permanent crowd accompanying them,” he said.
Networks cut, schools shut
An unannounced suspension of mobile and internet services hit several parts of Peshawar from Wednesday night. A Pakistan Telecommunication Authority official said the order came from “higher authorities” as a temporary security measure during the march. The provincial government did not comment. Tariq Saeed Marwat, the chief minister’s special assistant on home affairs, did not say whether his department had asked for the suspension.
Several large private schools closed on Thursday, while government schools, colleges and universities stayed open. Some parents learned of the closures only when their children were turned away at the gate. Yousaf Khan, a Ring Road resident, said his children were told to go home and that he had not seen the notice because the phone network was down.
The Private Schools Regulatory Authority said it had issued no closure order. It directed all private institutions to stay open and warned of “strict disciplinary action” against any that did not.
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