Kundi says PTI march will not pass Attock as Punjab bans gatherings

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Tuesday warned that the PTI’s long march would not be allowed to go beyond Attock, as the Punjab government banned public gatherings across the province for 10 days, citing terrorist threats.

“They cannot go any further than Attock,” Kundi told Geo News, challenging the PTI to “try to take a step”, Dawn reported. Attock is the Punjab district that borders KP.

“Show us the people”

Kundi said the party did not have the capacity to march further. “They claim to have two million people with them… show us the people; they don’t have the capacity,” he said.

He said KP was suffering from terrorism, “yet, they want to march to Islamabad instead”, and raised a security worry: if someone from southern KP joined the march to carry out a plot, “what screening mechanisms does PTI have in place to prevent that from happening?”

Kundi accused the PTI-led provincial government of staying silent on terrorist attacks. On governor’s rule, he said it was a last resort: “Surgery is the last option; first, you are put on medication.”

Punjab’s 10-day ban

Hours later, the Punjab Home Department imposed Section 144 across the province for 10 days from October 6, The Express Tribune reported. The order cited “a serious and imminent threat to public peace” from terrorist groups and hostile intelligence agencies, with alerts about suicide bombers, vehicle bombs and target killings at large gatherings.

The order:

• Bans assemblies, rallies, sit-ins, processions and gatherings of five or more people in any public place, road or motorway
• Bans carrying or displaying weapons in public
• Exempts weddings, funerals, prayers at places of worship, court proceedings and events approved by deputy commissioners

Punjab had imposed a similar 13-day ban from September 23 to October 5, when it also sought Rangers in Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum and Mianwali.

Where the march is now

KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi’s convoy spent Monday night in Kohat and was due to leave for Peshawar at 3pm on Tuesday. The plan:

• October 7: leave Budh Bair in Peshawar, overnight near the Charsadda Interchange
• October 8: reach Khairabad, on the KP-Punjab border, where the next phase will be announced

“We must not exhaust ourselves. Our struggle is a long one,” Afridi told supporters in Kohat’s Lachi tehsil, adding that from October 8 a “T20 match” would begin.

Why talks failed

The march began after weekend talks between the government and the opposition ended in deadlock. The government blamed Afridi; the PTI said the sticking points were access to Imran Khan, his medical care and the Centre’s counterterrorism policy. The PTI said the government agreed to restore family and lawyer meetings with Imran from Tuesday, but would not put access to him in the agreement.

Why it matters

With Punjab banning gatherings and KP’s governor promising to stop the march at Attock, a showdown at the provincial border looks increasingly likely on or after October 8. Read our reports on the march leaving Karak and on Khawaja Asif’s remarks on KP security.

This article draws on reporting by Dawn, The Express Tribune and Geo News.