PTI postpones Islamabad long march to October 4 as capital braces for security clampdown

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has decided to postpone its planned long march on Islamabad, originally set for September 27, by more than a week, according to a senior party leader.

The party had been preparing a nationwide protest culminating in a march on the capital to demand the release of its founder, Imran Khan, who is being held in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.

New date: October 4 from Peshawar

A senior PTI leader, speaking to Dawn on condition of anonymity, said the march would now set off from Peshawar on October 4, and that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi would announce the change formally.

The leader framed the delay as a tactical choice. The idea, he said, was to wear down the federal government and law enforcement agencies, which had already sealed off the capital and closed several routes at considerable cost. In his view, the PTI had in some ways already achieved what the march set out to do.

Asked whether the party planned to join forces with the Jamaat-i-Islami, which has itself postponed a protest march against the petroleum levy at the prime minister’s request, the leader said the decision had nothing to do with the JI and that the PTI could organise its march on its own.

Conditions floated, then denied

The postponement came a day after a PTI lawyer, Advocate Naeem Haider Panjutha, told Dawn the protest could be called off if the government agreed to three things: elections within six to eight months, the release of Imran Khan and other political prisoners, and investigations into the crackdowns on the party after May 9 and November 26.

The party’s spokesperson, Sheikh Waqas Akram, denied that any such proposal had been discussed at a party forum, saying that only Imran Khan could decide such a matter.

A capital under lockdown

The authorities have been preparing for weeks. A ban on public gatherings under Section 144 has been in force in Islamabad for two months, and Punjab has banned gatherings across the province for 13 days, including any incitement to “unlawful assembly”.

The Punjab government has also asked the interior ministry to slow down or suspend mobile and internet services at specific locations in Rawalpindi and Attock on September 27. The federal government has approved the deployment of Rangers in Islamabad and several Punjab districts from September 20 to October 5, with the official notification stating that troops may respond in self-defence to threats or violence.

Information minister targets KP government

At a press conference on Friday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar launched a strongly worded attack on the PTI-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He accused it of avoiding action on law and order and of facilitating militants, describing it as a “B-team” of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, and personally criticised Chief Minister Afridi.

Tarar said the province had seen 2,456 terrorist attacks so far in 2026, around ten a day, in which 472 police, army, Rangers and Frontier Corps personnel had been killed and more than 1,500 people injured. He argued that responsibility for law and order lay with the provincial government, and challenged the PTI to “come and protest, if you have the courage”.

These are the minister’s allegations. The reports of Friday’s press conference did not include a response from the PTI or the provincial government.

What happens next

With the march moved to October 4, the Rangers’ deployment, scheduled to run until October 5, now covers the new date. Much will depend on whether the PTI can mobilise supporters from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab in the face of the bans on gatherings, and whether any talks between the party and the government take shape before then. The coming week is likely to test both the government’s security strategy and the PTI’s ability to bring its supporters onto the streets.

Reporting draws on accounts published by Dawn.