ISLAMABAD(National Times)- The PTI leadership decided on Friday to postpone its planned long march towards Islamabad, originally scheduled for Sept 27, by more than a week.
The party had been preparing for a nationwide protest and march towards Islamabad on Sept 27 to press for the release of its founder, Imran Khan, who is currently incarcerated in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.
Speaking to Dawn, a senior PTI leader, who requested anonymity, said the march will now leave from Peshawar on Oct 4.
He added that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi would formally announce the postponement soon.
“There was a proposal to exhaust the federal government and law enforcement agencies, as they have already closed down the federal capital and a number of routes,” he said.
The leader claimed that the PTI had already achieved what it wanted to do via the march.
“They have closed down roads and are spending hundreds of millions on law enforcement,” he noted.
Asked if the PTI intended to march alongside the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), which had postponed its own protest march against the petroleum levy on the request of the premier, the leader said that the decision had nothing to do with them.
“We are capable of arranging the march on our own,” he said.
The development comes a day after a PTI leader had hinted at the possibility of postponing its protest march if the federal government agreed to hold elections within six to eight months, release Imran and other political prisoners, and investigate the May 9 and November 26 crackdowns on the opposition party.
Advocate Naeem Haider Panjutha told Dawn that the protest could be postponed if these three assurances were given by the government.
Party spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram, however, had denied any such proposal was being discussed at any party forum, saying only Imran could take a decision even if such a proposal was on the table.
Preparations in the Rawalpindi Division and the federal capital territory to maintain security and deal with any emergency situation have been in full swing in light of the potential long march and other protests in Islamabad.
Punjab has already imposed a ban on gatherings across the province for 13 days and prohibited inciting people to “unlawful assembly”. A similar ban under Section 144 has been enforced in Islamabad for two months.
The Punjab government has also sent a letter to the interior ministry requesting mobile and internet services at specific locations in Rawalpindi and Attock to be downgraded or jammed on Sept 27.
Meanwhile, the federal government on Thursday approved the deployment of Rangers in Islamabad and several districts of Punjab from Sept 20 to Oct 5.
“The deployed troops may respond appropriately in self-defence to any threats or violent activities encountered in the course of their duties as per rules/regulations in vogue,” the notification stated.
HRCP urges govt to de-escalate political tensions
All three of Imran’s sisters — Uzma Khan, Noreen Khan and Aleema Khan — have been detained and while there have been reports of the arrests of PTI members and workers as well.
The Human Right Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said in a statement on Friday that it “deplores the mounting arrests and preventive detention of PTI workers, lawmakers and leaders ahead of the party’s planned protest march”.
Reports indicated that scores of workers, including women, had been arbitrarily detained, with some families claiming that they had no information as to the whereabouts of their relatives, the HRCP said.
It added that it was “incumbent on the state to uphold the right to peaceful assembly for all citizens”.
“Pre-emptive mass detention and restrictions on freedom of movement cannot be justified as proportionate or necessary. Moreover, repeated blanket restrictions, including the imposition of Section 144, are an affront to democratic principles.
“We urge the government to de-escalate political tensions by resuming a purposeful dialogue with the opposition and to immediately release those who have been arbitrarily detained,” the HRCP said.
Tarar takes aim at KP govt for ‘facilitating terrorism’
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar slammed the KP government, accusing it of avoiding taking steps to maintain law and order in the province.
He alleged that they also gave “full facilitation” to terrorists and called their policy on law and order “evasive”.
“In one way or another, terrorists have attacked all political parties in KP,” the minister said.
“But the PTI is held in high regard by terrorists. And not only do they avoid condemning terrorists, but they also fully avoid taking any sort of action against them. Facilitating terrorists is part of their policy.”
He called KP’s PTI government the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) “B-team”, and Tehreek-i-Taliban Afghanistan’s (TTA) “C-team”, claiming that it was facilitating the TTP while also “representing” the TTA.
He also took aim at KP CM Afridi specifically, saying he “looks less like a chief minister and more like a TTP commander, in both his words and actions”.
“When drones are fired at Kohat from Afghanistan, and the Pakistan Army and Air Force very skilfully take them down, you will not see any sort of condemnation or statement from KP government,” Tarar claimed.
“When there is firing from Afghanistan in Kurram … you will never see them go to Kurram and say ‘We have come here, we stand with our forces, and we will not tolerate such firing under any circumstances’.”
He termed this a sign of cowardice from CM Afridi, his cabinet and his entire KP government, adding that this was also the reason they were “running away” from protests.
“They are not even prepared. I’ve just come from KP. They don’t have any sort of preparations,” the minister said.
“Come and protest, if you have the courage,” he said.
He stressed that the provincial government was in charge of controlling law and order, highlighting that 2,456 terror attacks had taken place in KP in 2026 — around 10 a day on average. He added that 472 police, army, rangers, and FC personnel were martyred and over 1,500 people injured this year.
The information minister asserted that the reason the KP government did not want to fix the law and order situation was to maintain a “political terror-crime nexus” and illegal trade and mining activities in the province, through which they “funded terrorists”.
“A provincial government which doesn’t want to stop terrorism and fix law and order, and countless citizens lose their lives — this cannot be justified in any part of the world,” he said.
