Pakistan seals off Islamabad ahead of march to free Imran Khan

Pakistani authorities have blocked roads into Islamabad with shipping containers ahead of a march planned for Sunday to demand the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Khan’s three sisters and more than 1,500 party workers have been detained.

Pakistani authorities have blocked roads into the capital, Islamabad, ahead of a march that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) plans to hold on Sunday, September 27, to demand the release of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

More than 2,000 shipping containers have been placed across Islamabad and at Attock Bridge. The motorway linking Islamabad with Peshawar and other main roads connecting the capital with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have been closed to traffic.

More than 19,000 police officers have been deployed from Punjab and Sindh provinces, and schools and colleges have been shut to house them.

Khan’s three sisters, Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi, have been detained along with at least six National Assembly members and more than 1,500 party workers under a 1960 public order law that allows preventive detention without charge.

“We will draw up a permanent plan of action. We will not go halfway,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said, ruling out extended sit-ins. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said: “Peaceful people do not leave their homes carrying nail-studded sticks.”

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, who is leading the march, said: “We will go there on nothing but two hands and two feet. There will be nothing else in our hands.” PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan said: “We were peaceful, we are peaceful, and we will remain peaceful.”

Khan has been in prison since August 2023. His wife, Bushra Bibi, is also jailed.