ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s law minister said on Tuesday jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party must pursue his release through the courts, challenging its plan to march on the capital next week to press that demand.

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party postponed its march to demand his release from Sept. 27 to Oct. 4 after authorities blocked major routes from the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which the party governs, to Islamabad. The government says it is acting to protect the capital. PTI says it intends to protest peacefully.

The confrontation is part of a longer struggle between PTI and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government. Candidates backed by Khan won the most directly elected seats in the 2024 general election, but no majority, and Sharif formed a coalition government. PTI alleges the election was rigged while authorities deny that allegation. Khan has been jailed since 2023 and says the cases against him are politically motivated. The government denies it interferes in judicial procedures. 

On Tuesday, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar addressed the party’s demand for negotiations, saying talks should be "serious" but distinguished political discussions from the judicial process governing Khan’s appeal.

“We have repeatedly said that the forum for this is the courts, not the government,” Tarar said. “Their appeal is pending, so they should pursue it.”

“When there is a mechanism and judicial processes in place, can you say that this process can be carried out through rallies and protests, by marching on cities and using force?” he added. “That would be unconstitutional.”

Tarar said the government’s primary responsibility was to protect people’s lives and property, citing what he described as problems at past protests. PTI’s last large march on Islamabad, in November 2024, ended in deadly clashes with security forces. 

Ahead of the originally scheduled march on Sept. 27, authorities deployed thousands of security personnel, detained hundreds of PTI activists and placed shipping containers across routes leading to Islamabad. Major highways were closed, disrupting travel between the capital and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Most routes reopened after the postponement, although some containers remained in parts of Islamabad on Tuesday. 

The Islamabad High Court has upheld the right to peaceful assembly while ruling that a protest cannot obstruct roads or prevent other people from reaching hospitals, schools and workplaces. It also directed provincial governments not to use public resources to facilitate a march on the capital. 

Khan’s medical treatment has added to the dispute. In August, the Supreme Court ordered arrangements for his examination and treatment at a private Islamabad hospital.

Authorities took him instead to a public hospital for an examination and returned him to jail, drawing objections from his family and party.