PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) parliamentary party on Tuesday agreed to proceed with its planned October 4 long march on Islamabad, reversing an earlier proposal by a majority of members to postpone the protest, party sources said.
The meeting was held at the Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar to discuss the political situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and preparations for the march.
According to the sources, participants agreed that the march would go ahead as scheduled, arguing that postponing it could lower the morale of party workers and discourage them from participating in future protests.
The party decided to finalise preparations at the local level, with workers and leaders tasked with organising mobilisation activities in their respective areas.
A tent city will be established along the Grand Trunk Road in Nowshera ahead of the march, while another protest camp will be set up near Swabi on the motorway, the sources said.
Party workers and leaders have also been advised to use motorcycles instead of larger vehicles for the march, while special attention will be given to fundraising for the protest.
The latest decision reverses the position reported earlier in the day, when a majority of PTI parliamentary party members had advised the leadership to defer the October 4 march, citing the situation in the province and concerns over possible federal action.
Earlier participants had suggested an alternative strategy instead of the long march, while PTI provincial spokesperson Shaukat Yousafzai had also written to the party leadership seeking postponement.
Meanwhile, PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa President Junaid Akbar Khan warned party lawmakers and leaders who are not in Pakistan ahead of the October 4 march that they could lose their place in the party.
In a post on X, Junaid said those who were outside the country on the day of the planned march would have no connection with PTI.
He said members of the provincial and National Assemblies and party leaders who were not in Pakistan on October 4 should “form a separate party”.
The developments come amid heightened political tensions between the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments, with federal ministers and the KP governor publicly discussing the possibility of imposing governor’s rule in the province.
KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has said consultations were under way on the possible imposition of governor’s rule, while Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar has also said the legal grounds for such a step had been fulfilled, according to media reports.
PTI had initially planned to start its long march from Peshawar on September 27 but later deferred it to October 4 following a meeting of its political committee.
KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi had said the political committee unanimously agreed on the new date.
At the time, party leaders cited preparations, road closures and other restrictions as among the issues surrounding the march. PTI leaders also said the protest would be peaceful and would seek the release of party founder Imran Khan and pursue other political objectives.
The latest developments come a day after the Peshawar High Court rejected a petition challenging the nomination of Chief Minister Sohail Afridi as an accused in the May 9 Radio Pakistan attack case.
The petition had been filed by the special prosecutor, challenging the Punjab Forensic Science Agency and National Database and Registration Authority reports relied upon in nominating Afridi and other PTI leaders as accused in the case.
The high court upheld the orders of the anti-terrorism court.
The case relates to the ransacking and torching of the Radio Pakistan Peshawar building during the May 9-10, 2023 unrest.
Police had nominated Afridi, former provincial ministers Taimur Saleem Jhagra and Kamran Bangash, PTI Peshawar district president Irfan Saleem and party activist Amir Khan Chamkani as accused following forensic and NADRA reports concerning video footage and photographs.
The defence has disputed the identification and relevance of some of the footage to the Radio Pakistan incident.
An anti-terrorism court on Monday directed the investigating officer to submit the challan after the officer sought more time to complete the charge sheet.
The court is conducting the trial involving the Radio Pakistan attack, while the prosecution has yet to complete supplementary proceedings concerning the newly nominated accused.
The political developments surrounding the case have added to the uncertainty facing the PTI-led provincial government, particularly as the federal government and opposition remain at odds over law and order, counterterrorism policy and the proposed long march.
PTI’s parliamentary party was expected to review the proposals made during Tuesday’s meeting before Chief Minister Sohail Afridi addressed a press conference on the decisions taken by the meeting.
