By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Major roads into Islamabad were sealed with shipping containers on Thursday as the country’s capital braced for a fortnight of competing political marches, hours after the secretary general of Imran Khan’s opposition party said he had been detained and then released by police.
Salman Akram Raja, Secretary General of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, said in a post on X that he had been freed after four hours in custody, along with retired army major Latasob Satti, Ikhlaq Ahmad Satti, and “several friends”. The PTI had earlier claimed the men were “unlawfully abducted” while travelling to the town of Kotli Sattian, north-east of the capital, to attend the funeral of a party worker.
According to the party’s account, posted on X, the group was intercepted and taken to Nilore police station on the outskirts of Islamabad. The PTI alleged that “abductions and arrests were ongoing to prevent people from attending the funeral”. Local reporting on the episode has been inconsistent on the length of Raja’s detention and the precise circumstances of his arrest, with one opposition alliance spokesman putting the time in custody at around two hours rather than four, and giving the name of the deceased PTI worker as Ishtiaq Satti rather than Ijaz Satti, as the party’s own statement had it.
Writing after his release, Raja said the operation had one purpose. “The only objective was to prevent us from attending late Ijaz Satti’s funeral,” he said, adding that “the fear of the public has stripped the decision-makers of their reason and sense” and that “human rights have become meaningless”. Latasob Satti later posted a photograph of himself with PTI leaders on X, confirming they had been released.
PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan condemned the detention. “For the last few days, about 700 workers have been arrested,” he said, adding that arrest warrants had also been issued against members of the National and provincial assemblies. “This is all illegal. This must end now,” he wrote.
Earlier on Thursday, before his detention, Raja had appeared at a press conference alongside fellow PTI leader Taimur Saleem Jhagra. The party has spent recent weeks holding rallies and public events to build momentum for a nationwide protest planned for 27 September, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief minister, Sohail Afridi, touring Punjab to drum up support. During that tour, Afridi separately alleged he had been “abducted” by authorities in Lahore and left by the roadside, and claimed a man had been sent to kill him. The Punjab government rejected the arrest claim, and police in Wazirabad said the man Afridi had identified was in fact a police constable assigned to his security detail.
Capital under lockdown for two marches
Thursday’s events unfolded against a wider security clampdown that has transformed much of Islamabad into a fortified zone. Shipping containers have been placed at the entry and exit points of the Red Zone, the high-security district that houses parliament, the presidency and foreign embassies, as well as along the main roads connecting the capital to its suburbs. According to figures reported by local media, roughly 600 containers had been brought into the city by midweek, with police aiming to deploy as many as 1,000 at key junctions, including a full closure of access to D-Chowk. More than 3,000 police officers, along with Rangers paramilitary personnel and the Anti-Riot Force, are expected to be mobilised.
The measures are aimed at two separate demonstrations. Jamaat-e-Islami, the religious-political party led by Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, is due to march on the capital on 20 September in protest at the government’s petroleum levy, which it blames for driving up fuel prices. A week later, the PTI intends to lead what it has called a long march demanding the release of Imran Khan, who has been in prison since August 2023 and has since been convicted or charged in a string of cases ranging from corruption to leaking state secrets. Khan and his party maintain the prosecutions are politically motivated attempts to sideline him.
Speaking to a local television channel, the prime minister’s coordinator on information, Ikhtiar Wali Khan, dismissed both marches as attempts by political parties to boost their standing with voters. He said the government would not stand in the way of a genuinely peaceful demonstration. “We want them to come but no killings should take place,” he said. “No blood is spilled; no firing takes place. No Rangers personnel are martyred, or police officers are killed, and they don’t insult their own party workers.” He went on to accuse the PTI of planning to bring armed supporters to the 27 September protest. “They have their own weapons, they have police tear guns, and they have shells,” he claimed. “They have hired professional people just to create a situation where some blood is spilled.” The PTI has repeatedly said its march will be peaceful, and has rejected similar accusations following clashes with law enforcement during previous protests in 2023 and 2024.
The Islamabad High Court has already intervened once, directing authorities earlier this week to keep the city’s roads passable and to protect residents’ access to healthcare, education and lawful business during the protests. It has separately ordered provincial governments to ensure no state resources or officials are used to support any march heading for the capital.
The container operation has drawn criticism from the transport industry. Muhammad Owais Chaudhry, president of the All Pakistan Goods Transport Owners Association, said commercial vehicles and containers carrying goods worth hundreds of millions of rupees had effectively been commandeered to block roads, with some vehicles held by police for close to a fortnight. “These containers are being forcibly taken from transporters and used to block roads,” he said. “Our containers are meant to keep businesses running and support the country’s economy, not to block roads. All detained vehicles and containers should be released immediately.”
Authorities have also moved against PTI activists directly. District administrations issued preventive detention orders this week against dozens of party workers under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order ordinance, including 31 people named in one Punjab notification and a further 14 in Toba Tek Singh. The Punjab government has additionally imposed a blanket ban on public gatherings across the province from 13 to 17 September, citing the threat of terrorist attacks by militant groups.
On Wednesday, interior minister Mohsin Naqvi visited checkpoints in Attock, on the Punjab-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa boundary, to review security arrangements as the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi continue preparations, including further requests for the detention of activists and the procurement of anti-riot equipment.
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