More than 5,000 supporters of imprisoned former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan began a dayslong march toward Islamabad on Sunday to demand his release, after talks between the government and the opposition fell through.
Khan is current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ’s main political rival and has been imprisoned since 2023 on corruption and other charges that he and his party say are politically motivated. 27 but was postponed after party leaders said authorities blocked key approaches to Islamabad, including Attock Bridge, a major crossing for convoys from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Khan, a former cricket star, was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022. Sharif returned to office after the February 2024 election, which Khan’s party says was rigged to deny it victory.
Gohar Khan, the party’s chairman, said negotiations remained deadlocked after two rounds. Despite his imprisonment, he retains a substantial and passionate support base, keeping him at the center of Pakistan’s turbulent political landscape. The demonstrators, traveling in a convoy of trucks, buses and cars, departed from Lakki Marwat district in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Khan’s party holds power. Organizers have planned overnight stops along the route as the caravan makes its way toward the capital. Sohail Afridi, the province’s chief minister, and a staunch Khan supporter is leading the march. Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, and the federal government were in talks to postpone the march but failed to reach a resolution. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi blamed Afridi for the failure of the talks, warning that he would be held responsible for any loss of life during the planned march. Sharif’s government urged postponement of the march, citing a surge in militant attacks by the Pakistani Taliban in the northwest. His government has accused PTI of sympathizing with the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The march was originally scheduled for Sept. The government denies the allegation.
