Pakistan’s opposition party PTI will go ahead with its planned September 27 protest demanding the release of its founder Imran Khan “at all costs”, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said on Monday.
Afridi said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) would announce its detailed protest plan on September 25 and mobilise workers across the country.
Khan, 73, has been in jail since 2023 and is currently lodged at the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.
Addressing a press conference in Peshawar, Afridi said arrests of PTI provincial ministers and lawmakers had begun ahead of the protest, prompting an emergency meeting of the party’s parliamentary group.
His remarks came after police on Monday arrested two of Khan’s sisters and detained them for 30 days under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance.
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A day earlier, police had detained another sister, Aleema Khan, under the same law and shifted her to Kot Lakhpat Jail.
Afridi said the party had pursued “all constitutional and democratic avenues” but was being prevented from meeting Khan despite court orders.
He said PTI had no intention of confrontation and would pursue its demands through peaceful and democratic means.
He also said party workers would not carry weapons during the protest.
Afridi warned that any firing during the protest could lead to retaliation and alleged that the prevailing situation was pushing the country towards civil war.
He said his government had exhausted all constitutional and political options and decided to launch a long march after receiving no response.
Afridi also alleged that PTI workers had faced repression since November 26, 2024, and that some party workers had been killed.
Meanwhile, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar said the party was not planning to “storm” Islamabad and would not take the law and order situation into its own hands.
Gohar said the authorities were provoking the party but PTI would not come to Islamabad “like terrorists”.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, speaking to reporters in Lahore on Monday, warned that the government would not allow the September 27 protest to disrupt Islamabad.
He said preparations were under way for an “assault” and that this time the government would not allow the capital to be shut down.
