ISLAMABAD (AP) — More than 5,000 supporters of detainees former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan began a day-long march to Islamabad on Sunday to demand his release, after talks between the government and opposition failed.
Looming confrontation threatens to deepen from Pakistan political uncertainty at a time when the country is also grappling with a surge in militant attacks.
Khan is the main political rival of current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and has been imprisoned since 2023 on corruption and other charges that he and his party say are politically motivated. Despite his imprisonment, he enjoys a large and passionate support base, keeping him at the center of Pakistan’s turbulent political landscape.
The protesters, traveling in a convoy of trucks, buses and cars, set out from Lakki Marwat district in the country’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Khan’s party holds power. Organizers have planned overnight stops along the route as the caravan heads toward the capital. Leading the march is Sohail Afridi, the province’s chief minister and a strong supporter of Khan.
Speaking from a specially designed container truck bearing a large portrait of Khan, he expressed confidence in the movement’s ability to press its demands and bring political gridlock to the heart of the capital.
The authorities have roadblocks erectedusing containers, at the entrance to Islamabad and inside the city.
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 solution. Gohar Khan, party president, said negotiations remained deadlocked after two rounds.
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 called for the march to be postponed, citing a surge in militant attacks from the Pakistani Taliban to the northwest. His government accused the PTI of sympathize with the Pakistani Talibanalso known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
Organizers are now committed to reaching the capital after rallying hundreds of thousands of Khan’s supporters.
In addition to Khan’s release, protesters are demanding that he be transferred to a hospital and that his family be allowed to visit him. Authorities say he is in good health and receives regular visits from his family, but maintain that meetings with the imprisoned former leader cannot be used for political purposes.
The march was initially scheduled for September 27, but was postponed after party leaders said authorities were blocking main approaches to Islamabad, including the Attock Bridge, a major crossing for convoys from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Previous protests by Khan supporters turned violentincluding one in 2024 during which members of the security forces and civilians were killed.
Khan, a former cricket star, was ousted in a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022. Sharif returned to power after elections in February 2024, which Khan’s party claims were rigged to deny him victory. The government denies this allegation.
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Riaz reported from Peshawar, Pakistan. Associated Press writers Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar contributed to this report.
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