ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Thousands of supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan were converging Thursday on the town of Khairabad, about 80 kilometers from Islamabad, where the leader of their dayslong march has promised to announce the next phase of the protest campaign.
The caravan, led by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, set out Sunday from Lakki Marwat after last-minute talks between the government and the opposition collapsed over the weekend. Marchers halted overnight near Karak, Kohat, Peshawar and the Charsadda interchange along the way, with contingents from across the province joining the column, according to Pakistani media reports.
Afridi has said the gathering at Khairabad, near the border with Punjab province, will decide the march’s final trajectory toward the federal capital. The government has vowed the protesters will not be allowed to enter Islamabad: shipping containers barricade the capital’s entrances and roads at Attock and Taxila, and thousands of police and paramilitary troops have been deployed.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s political adviser Rana Sanaullah warned the marchers would not be permitted into the capital under any circumstances, while Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said Afridi would be held personally and legally responsible for any loss of life. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi accused Afridi of using an official helicopter to reach the march’s starting point, calling it contempt of court.
The standoff follows the collapse of three rounds of negotiations. The main deadlock issue, according to both sides, is access to Khan — the PTI wants its representatives and his personal doctors to meet him, while the government demanded the march be called off first. Authorities have detained three of Khan’s sisters and hundreds of party activists in recent days, according to Reuters.
Khan, 73, has been in prison since 2023 on corruption and other charges that he and his party say are politically motivated. The march, the largest opposition mobilization in Pakistan in two years, is demanding his release and what the party calls the supremacy of law and the constitution.
