Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), will march in Islamabad on September 27 to demand his release. Extensive security measures have been put in place in and around the capital ahead of the march.
The authorities have closed several key roads linking the capital with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including the Islamabad-Peshawar highway, until further notice. More than 2,000 containers have been used to set up roadblocks in the capital. Large numbers of police are being deployed from Punjab and Sindh, and several educational institutions have been closed to house security personnel.
Local media estimate that 20,000 to 25,000 people could join the march. Several PTI leaders, activists and lawmakers, including Imran Khan’s three sisters, have already been detained. The government says the measures are meant to deal with a possible law-and-order situation. The PTI alleges that the sweeping arrests are aimed at suppressing it politically.
The government’s concerns are rooted partly in the PTI’s past protests. After Imran Khan’s arrest in May 2023, violence broke out across the country, including attacks on military installations. In November 2024, a PTI march on Islamabad also ended with an operation by security forces; the government and the PTI give widely differing accounts of the casualties.
In the 2024 general election, PTI-backed candidates running as independents won 93 seats but could not form a government. Various parties, including Commonwealth observers, raised questions about the election environment, though the country’s election commission rejected allegations of vote-rigging.
Imran Khan has been in prison since August 2023 and remains one of Pakistan’s main opposition leaders. Some analysts believe the PTI’s popularity, Imran’s imprisonment and inflationary pressure could together increase political instability.
Fuel prices have also risen in Pakistan. Because of the war in the Middle East, the price of petrol has gone up by about 51 rupees a litre since the start of September, to 393.75 rupees. Jamaat-e-Islami had also announced a march on Islamabad in protest, but suspended it temporarily after talks with the prime minister.
The government’s hard line on the PTI’s September 27 programme is therefore not only preparation for handling a political rally. Political confrontation, Imran Khan’s imprisonment, economic pressure and the security situation together raise fears of fresh tension in Pakistan.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report