PTI to press ahead with Sept 27 protest for Imran Khan's release

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will go ahead with its planned September 27 protest to demand the release of party founder Imran Khan "at all costs", Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said on Monday. He said the party would announce its detailed protest plan on September 25 and begin mobilising workers across the country.

Afridi said PTI had pursued "all constitutional and democratic avenues" but was still being prevented from meeting Khan despite court orders. He said the party had no intention of confrontation and would press its demands through peaceful and democratic means, while 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.

Khan, 73, has been in jail since 2023 and is currently lodged at the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. Addressing a press conference, Afridi said arrests of PTI provincial ministers and lawmakers had begun ahead of the protest, leading to an emergency meeting of the party's parliamentary group. His comments came after police on Monday arrested two of Khan's sisters and detained them for 30 days under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance. A day earlier, police had detained another sister, Aleema Khan, under the same law and shifted her to Kot Lakhpat Jail.

Afridi said party workers would not carry weapons during the protest. At the same time, he warned that any firing during the protest could lead to retaliation and alleged that the current situation was pushing the country towards civil war. He said his government had exhausted all constitutional and political options and had decided to launch a long march after receiving no response. He also alleged that PTI workers had faced repression since November 26, 2024, and that some party workers had been killed.

Gohar said the authorities were provoking the party, but PTI would not come to Islamabad "like terrorists". Meanwhile, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore 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. The September 27 protest is set to go ahead as PTI pushes for Khan's release, while the government has said it will not allow any disruption in Islamabad.