- Convoy demanding jailed ex-premier Imran Khan’s release is due to leave Karak at noon
- Police say wider Islamabad roads remain open with entry to Red Zone restricted
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s main opposition party is due to resume its protest march today, Monday, to demand jailed former premier Imran Khan’s release, as police restricted access to Islamabad’s government district while saying wider city roads remained open.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party launched the march on Sunday from Lakki Marwat in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where it governs, after negotiations with the federal government ended without agreement. Led by the province’s chief minister, Sohail Afridi, the convoy stopped overnight in Karak.
The talks broke down over demands concerning access to Khan and differences over counterterrorism policy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan and has experienced rising militant violence. Islamabad wants closer provincial cooperation against militants, while PTI demands political consultation over security operations.
Khan, ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022, has been imprisoned since August 2023 on corruption and other charges that he says are politically motivated. The protest is intended to reach Islamabad, but PTI’s announced schedule currently ends at the provincial border on Oct. 8, where Afridi is expected to outline the next phase.
“Following a successful start from Gandi Chowk, Lakki Marwat on October 4, the second phase of our long march will commence from Karak today at 12pm,” PTI information secretary Shaikh Waqas Akram told Arab News on Monday.
The procession is scheduled to move toward Kohat on Monday, then travel through Peshawar and Charsadda before converging at Khairabad on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa–Punjab border on Thursday. Supporters from other districts are expected to join along the route.
PTI has not announced when the convoy will cross into Punjab or proceed to Islamabad. The party postponed its original Sept. 27 march to Oct. 4 and formal government-opposition negotiations began on Oct. 2.
In Islamabad, police said they had restricted entry to the Red Zone, a heavily guarded district housing Parliament, senior government offices and foreign embassies. Authorities have positioned shipping containers near sensitive areas and routes into the capital in preparation for possible protests.
“Right now, no road is closed for going to any area of Islamabad. However, regarding the Red Zone, where there were multiple entries to the Red Zone, we have brought it down to one or two entries,” an Islamabad police spokesperson said.
Previous marches by Khan’s supporters have led to clashes with security forces. A November 2024 protest ended in a crackdown in Islamabad, with the government reporting security-force deaths and PTI saying 12 supporters were killed. Officials denied accusations that protesters had been shot dead.
The latest mobilization also comes amid a widening dispute between the federal government and the PTI-led provincial administration over security policy and the possibility of federal intervention.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi in Peshawar on Sunday to discuss the political and security situation. The Governor House subsequently said it would play its “full constitutional role” if the president and prime minister deemed governor’s rule or an emergency necessary.
Such measures could allow greater federal control over the province. They have been discussed amid accusations that the provincial government is failing to confront militancy, alongside the confrontation over the march; no decision to impose them has been announced.
Akram rejected the prospect of intervention.
“The imposition of Governor’s Rule or a state of emergency, are political bluffing as such steps lack legal feasibility and would be rejected by the public,” he said.
Road restrictions imposed ahead of the protest have also affected businesses beyond the capital. Transporters have avoided journeys north because they fear their trucks and shipping containers will be seized for use as barricades, contributing to cargo backlogs in Karachi, Pakistan’s main port city.
