The party has been preparing for a nationwide protest and march towards Islamabad to press for the release of its founder, Imran Khan, who is currently incarcerated in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.

Earlier, a senior PTI leader, who requested anonymity, also told Dawn that the march would now leave from Peshawar on Oct 4.

He added that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi would formally announce the postponement soon.

“There was a proposal to exhaust the federal government and law enforcement agencies, as they have already closed down the federal capital and a number of routes,” he said.

The leader claimed that the PTI had already achieved what it wanted to do via the march.

“They have closed down roads and are spending hundreds of millions on law enforcement,” he noted.

Asked if the PTI intended to march alongside the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), which had postponed its own protest march against the petroleum levy on the request of the premier, the leader said that the decision had nothing to do with them.

“We are capable of arranging the march on our own,” he said.

The development comes a day after a PTI leader had hinted at the possibility of postponing its protest march if the federal government agreed to hold elections within six to eight months, release Imran and other political prisoners, and investigate the May 9 and November 26 crackdowns on the opposition party.

Advocate Naeem Haider Panjutha told Dawn that the protest could be postponed if these three assurances were given by the government.

Party spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram, however, had denied any such proposal was being discussed at any party forum, saying only Imran could take a decision even if such a proposal was on the table.

Preparations in the Rawalpindi Division and the federal capital territory to maintain security and deal with any emergency situation have been in full swing in light of the potential long march and other protests in Islamabad.

Punjab has already imposed a ban on gatherings across the province for 13 days and prohibited inciting people to “unlawful assembly”. A similar ban under Section 144 has been enforced in Islamabad for two months.

The Punjab government has also sent a letter to the interior ministry requesting mobile and internet services at specific locations in Rawalpindi and Attock to be downgraded or jam­med on Sept 27.

Meanwhile, the federal government on Thursday approved the deployment of Rangers in Islamabad and several districts of Punjab from Sept 20 to Oct 5.

“The deployed troops may respond appropriately in self-defence to any threats or violent activities encountered in the course of their duties as per rules/regulations in vogue,” the notification stated.

HRCP urges govt to de-escalate political tensions

All three of Imran’s sisters — Uzma Khan, Noreen Khan and Aleema Khan — have been detained and there have also been reports of the arrests of PTI members and workers.

The Human Right Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said in a statement on Friday that it “deplores the mounting arrests and preventive detention of PTI workers, lawmakers and leaders ahead of the party’s planned protest march”.

Reports indicated that scores of workers, including women, had been arbitrarily detained, with some families claiming that they had no information as to the whereabouts of their relatives, the HRCP said.

It added that it was “incumbent on the state to uphold the right to peaceful assembly for all citizens”.

“Pre-emptive mass detention and restrictions on freedom of movement cannot be justified as proportionate or necessary. Moreover, repeated blanket restrictions, including the imposition of Section 144, are an affront to democratic principles.

“We urge the government to de-escalate political tensions by resuming a purposeful dialogue with the opposition and to immediately release those who have been arbitrarily detained,” the HRCP said.

Tarar takes aim at KP govt for ‘facilitating terrorism’

Addressing a press conference on Friday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar slammed the KP government, accusing it of avoiding taking steps to maintain law and order in the province.

He alleged that they also gave “full facilitation” to terrorists and called their policy on law and order “evasive”.

“In one way or another, terrorists have attacked all political parties in KP,” the minister said.

“But the PTI is held in high regard by terrorists. And not only do they avoid condemning terrorists, but they also fully avoid taking any sort of action against them. Facilitating terrorists is part of their policy.”

He called KP’s PTI government the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) “B-team”, and Tehreek-i-Taliban Afghanistan’s (TTA) “C-team”, claiming that it was facilitating the TTP while also “representing” the TTA.

He also took aim at KP CM Afridi specifically, saying he “looks less like a chief minister and more like a TTP commander, in both his words and actions”.

“When drones are fired at Kohat from Afghanistan, and the Pakistan Army and Air Force very skilfully take them down, you will not see any sort of condemnation or statement from KP government,” Tarar claimed.

“When there is firing from Afghanistan in Kurram … you will never see them go to Kurram and say ‘We have come here, we stand with our forces, and we will not tolerate such firing under any circumstances’.”

He termed this a sign of cowardice from CM Afridi, his cabinet and his entire KP government, adding that this was also the reason they were “running away” from protests.

“They are not even prepared. I’ve just come from KP. They don’t have any sort of preparations,” the minister said.

“Come and protest, if you have the courage,” he said.

He stressed that the provincial government was in charge of controlling law and order, highlighting that 2,456 terror attacks had taken place in KP in 2026 — around 10 a day on average. He added that 472 police, army, rangers, and FC personnel were martyred and over 1,500 people injured this year.

The information minister asserted that the reason the KP government did not want to fix the law and order situation was to maintain a “political terror-crime nexus” and illegal trade and mining activities in the province, through which they “funded terrorists”.

“A provincial government which doesn’t want to stop terrorism and fix law and order, and countless citizens lose their lives — this cannot be justified in any part of the world,” he said.

Terrorists from Fitna-al-Khawarij and Fitna-al-Hindustan were targeted in the operations, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

The state uses the term Fitna al-Khawarij for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and refers to designated Balochistan-based groups as Fitna al-Hindustan to highlight India’s role in terrorism and destabilisation across Pakistan.

Detailing the operations, the ISPR said that on Sept 24, as part of the ongoing Operation Shaban, security forces “busted additional terrorist hideouts, and after an intense fire exchange, five “India-sponsored terrorists” were killed.

This took the tally of killed terrorist to 22, it added.

“Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from khawarij locations. The clearance operation will continue till the complete neutralisation of threat from the area,” the statement said.

In another engagement on Sept 25, security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in the Nushki district.

“During the conduct of [the] operation, own troops effectively engaged [the] terrorists’ hideout and after an intense fire exchange, 11 terrorists were sent to hell,” the ISPR stated.

“[The] relentless counter-terrorism campaign under the vision ‘Azm-i-Istehkam’ (as approved by [the] Federal Apex Committee on National Action Plan) by security forces and law enforcement agencies of Pakistan will continue at full pace to wipe out [the] menace of foreign-sponsored and -supported terrorism from the country,” the military’s media wing added.

Balochistan has witnessed an increase in terrorist attacks in recent weeks, prompting security forces to intensify counter-terrorism operations.

The number of terrorist attacks in the province increased by seven per cent from 83 in July to 89 in August, according to a monthly assessment by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.

A day prior, security for­ces killed 19 terrorists in separate intelligence-ba­s­ed operations in Sha­ban, Kech and Quetta West during which a soldier was also martyred.

In a statement, the ISPR said inte­lligence agencies had reported the presence of multiple hideouts of Indian-sponsored Fitna al-Khawarij and Fitna al-Hindustan in Quetta district’s Shaban area, “posing a threat to the local population”.

On September 22, six terrorists were killed and nine suspected individuals were arrested during an intelligence-based operation by security forces in Balochistan’s Saran Tangi area, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

According to Radio Pakistan, a large cache of ammunition and weapons were also recovered from the possession of the terrorists.

Earlier that day, security forces killed four more terrorists belonging to a banned organisation in an intelligence-based operation carried out in two areas of Panjgur district.

According to officials, security forces launched an intelligence-based operation on the information about the presence of armed militants in Koh-Prom and the Aphan area of Panjgur district.

“Four armed terrorists of Fitna al Hindustan were killed in the heavy gun battle during the operation,” they said, adding that a large quantity of arms and ammunition was seized from the hideouts of the terrorists.