By Staff Reporter
LAHORE: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has warned the jailed Imran Khan’s party that it faces a “once-and-for-all” solution if it presses ahead with a march on Islamabad next Sunday, as the government weighs imposing governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and police detain three of the former prime minister’s sisters.
Naqvi told a press conference in Lahore on Monday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) should not “enter a dead-end street” from which there was “no way back”, and insisted that a repeat of past protests, when the capital was paralysed for days, would not be permitted.
“This time it will not happen that they come and the road is blocked for 10 or 20 days,” he said. “That possibility does not exist – I’m telling you this in advance.”
The party has called a nationwide protest and march on Islamabad on 27 September to demand the release of Khan, 73, who has been in prison since August 2023 on convictions he and his party say are politically motivated.
Naqvi said the government would enforce a ruling by the Islamabad High Court (IHC), issued on 14 September, which held that no political party has a lawful right to occupy public roads, highways, interchanges, toll plazas and buildings in the capital. The judgment also barred the use of state resources for such a protest.
“If they hold a long march, the Islamabad High Court’s order will be implemented in letter and spirit,” he said, promising that authorities would leave “no loophole”.
He claimed the “majority” of PTI’s leadership did not want to go ahead with the march, and urged the party: “Do not harm yourself and your people.”
Asked whether the government had a long-term answer to the party’s repeated protest calls, Naqvi said: “I believe this time we will find a permanent solution; we will not leave it halfway.” Pressed on whether a ban on PTI was under consideration, he replied only that “we can’t afford this every time”.
Governor’s rule under consideration
The minister also confirmed that ministers were examining ways of intervening in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is governed by PTI and borders Afghanistan. Asked whether governor’s rule was on the table, he said the government would consult the Law Ministry on “whatever legal option we have”, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to make the final decision.
His remarks followed a week of violence in the province. At least 21 people, including 15 police officers, were killed on Friday when a vehicle bomb exploded near a mosque inside the Old Police Lines compound in Kohat, during Friday prayers, and armed attackers then stormed the complex. Some later reports put the toll at 31, with more than 100 injured. Six soldiers were also killed on Sunday in an exchange of fire with militants in Hangu, officials said.
Naqvi, who attended funeral prayers for the soldiers in Peshawar earlier on Monday, used the attacks to criticise PTI’s leadership. “Neither you nor any minister came to the funerals,” he said. “Our captains have been martyred, our soldiers have been martyred, our police personnel have been martyred – and we are preparing to march on one city.”
Khan’s health
On the question of Khan’s health, which has become a focal point for his supporters, Naqvi rejected demands that he be moved to a private hospital. A team from the state-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and Shifa Eye Hospital examined the former prime minister at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on Sunday, checking his blood pressure, cholesterol and eyesight, according to jail sources.
“Whatever is in the law for treatment, we will do it, not on their demand,” Naqvi said. Khan has previously complained of an eye ailment and been taken to hospital for treatment on more than one occasion.
The rhetoric has been accompanied by a wave of arrests. Aleema Khan, the former prime minister’s sister, was detained in Lahore on Sunday under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, a 1960 law allowing preventive detention and restricting judicial review. A deputy commissioner’s order said she and a co-accused were “prejudicial to the public safety” and cited alleged involvement in protests on 9 May 2023. She was moved to Kot Lakhpat Jail for 30 days. Her lawyer said she had bail in all her cases in Lahore.
The party said on Monday that two more sisters, Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi, had also been detained along with several relatives. Reports said the pair were held for 30 days under the same law.
PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said the party’s protest would be peaceful and that it wanted no “clash or violence”. Detaining Aleema Khan, he said, was “tantamount to fuelling violence and tension”, and he promised the party would announce its response soon.
Rival protests
PTI is not the only group heading for the capital. The Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami began a “Super Long March” from Karachi by train on Sunday, demanding abolition of the petroleum levy at a time of soaring fuel prices linked to the conflict in the Middle East. Its leader, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, has warned the protest could grow into a movement to remove the government if the levy is not withdrawn. Farmers have also called demonstrations.
The government’s hard line reflects the memory of previous marches. Protests led by PTI in November 2024 ended in deadly clashes around D-Chowk in Islamabad, with the death toll disputed between the party and the authorities, and more than 4,000 arrests. Mr Naqvi, who led the security response, has since been a central figure in the government’s approach to the party.
PTI has said it will challenge the IHC ruling before the Supreme Court. Its protest plan, reported by Pakistani media, envisages demonstrations from 25 September and a larger gathering in Islamabad in early October, with a “zero-confrontation” policy for workers.
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