Opposition PTI’s protest march, set to resume tomorrow, delayed by two days

In this photograph taken on November 1, 2022, Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan speaks while taking part in an anti-government march in Gujranwala. (Photo courtesy: AFP/File)
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Updated 07 November 2022
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Opposition PTI’s protest march, set to resume tomorrow, delayed by two days

  • Announcement comes after Imran Khan said march toward Islamabad would resume on Tuesday
  • Rawalpindi administration closes educational institutions for two days due to political unrest

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said on Monday a planned protest march to the capital had been delayed to Thursday, a day after the ex-premier had said the movement toward the capital would resume on Tuesday.

Khan’s march on the capital was suspended in Wazirabad, a district in eastern Punjab province, after a gunman opened fire, wounding him and killing one of his supporters on Thursday. Thirteen others were injured.

Khan said the march would pick up again from Wazirabad on Tuesday and he would join it after it reached Rawalpindi, the neighboring city to Islamabad.

On Monday, PTI senior leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Twitter the “long march” would resume from Wazirabad at 2pm on Wednesdayinstead of Tuesday.

Just hours later, Senator Faisal Javed Khan, who was also wounded in Thursday’s gun attack, announced a new date for the relaunch of the march.

The announcement of delays in the movement’s resumption came as PTI supporters had blocked the Lahore and Peshawar motorways to Islamabad, as well as many other roads around the capital, to protest the attack on the former premier. In Rawalpindi, protesters set tires on fire and blocked the city’s main artery, Murree Road, while long queues of traffic were seen on different roads of Islamabad leading to the Grand Trunk Road, another highway connecting the country.

Islamabad police said in a statement it had dispatched capital police and paramilitary Rangers troops to the protest sites after the Islamabad motorway was blocked. Police have also requested the federal government to issue instructions to provincial governments to keep the motorways and roads leading to the airport open.

Islamabad police warned political activists against staging demonstrations in the capital without permission.

“All political people are requested to protest at the designated place with the permission of the administration,” police said.

In the eastern city of Lahore, the PTI staged a protest demonstration outside the Governor House, demanding the registration of the police first information report (FIR) in the attack on the party chief.

Addressing the protesters, provincial health minister Dr. Yasmin Rashid said thousands had gathered outside the Governor House to express solidarity with ex-premier Khan.

PTI senior leader Asad Umar shared a breakdown of the planned long march on Twitter:

The Rawalpindi district administration announced educational institutions would remain closed for two days in view of the ongoing political situation.

“Due to the prevailing law and order situation of the country, the competent authority has decided that all education institutions (government as well as private) situated in Tehsil Rawalpindi shall remain closed for two days (Nov 8 and Nov 9),” a notification issued by the deputy commissioner on Monday said.

During demonstrations in Rawalpindi, one protesters was electrocuted to death after he climbed up an electric pylon.


Pakistan, India exchange lists of nuclear facilities, prisoners amid strained ties

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Pakistan, India exchange lists of nuclear facilities, prisoners amid strained ties

  • List of Indian prisoners include 58 civilians and 188 fishermen, foreign office says
  • New Delhi says it has 391 civil prisoners, 33 Pakistani fishermen in custody

ISLAMABAD: The governments of Pakistan and India have exchanged lists of their nuclear installations and prisoners in each other’s custody in line with existing bilateral treaties, the foreign ministries of both countries said on Thursday. 

The development takes place amid strained ties between India and Pakistan following their four-day military conflict in May 2025. High-level engagement between officials of both countries remains mostly suspended as tensions persist. 

India and Pakistan exchange lists of prisoners in each other’s custody on Jan. 1 and July 1 each year under the Consular Access Agreement between them. They also exchange lists of nuclear installations under a 1988 agreement that prohibits attacks on each other’s nuclear facilities and requires annual notification of such sites on Jan. 1.

“The Government of Pakistan today handed over a list of 257 Indian prisoners (58 civil+ 199 fishermen) in Pakistan to the High Commission of India in Islamabad,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said during a weekly press briefing.

Andrabi said the Indian government is also sharing the list of Pakistani prisoners in its custody with the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. 

India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a press release that it had exchanged a list of 391 civil prisoners and 33 fishermen in its custody who are “Pakistani or believed-to-be-Pakistani.”

Andrabi said Pakistan had also exchanged a list of nuclear installations and facilities in Pakistan with a representative of the Indian High Commission in the foreign office today. 

“I understand that the Indian government is also sharing the list of Indian nuclear installations with our High Commission in New Delhi today,” he added. 

India’s Ministry of External Affairs on its website later confirmed New Delhi had provided Pakistan with the list of its nuclear installations in line with their bilateral treaty. 
 
The development took place a day after Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar shook hands with Pakistan’s National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in Dhaka, marking the first high-level contact between officials of both countries since May. 

Tensions escalated sharply after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on Apr. 22 last year that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. Pakistan denied involvement and called for an international investigation. 

India fired missiles into Pakistan on May 7, saying it had targeted militant camps. The two sides then exchanged artillery fire, missiles, fighter jet strikes and drone attacks for four days before US President Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire on May 10.