Pro-Imran Khan rally begins as Pakistan talks collapse

Thousands of supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan began a protest march from northwest Pakistan after negotiations with the government to halt the demonstration failed. More than 5,000 people set off on Sunday, according to reports.

The rally is organized by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. It was first planned for September 27, then delayed until October 4 to allow talks. But two rounds of discussions over the weekend didn’t break the impasse, and PTI decided to go ahead.

The march is the party’s latest effort to pressure the government into freeing Khan. He has been in prison since August 2023 on a series of convictions that PTI says are politically motivated. All but one of those convictions have been suspended or overturned on appeal.

Videos on PTI’s official social media showed supporters joining convoys in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, which the party rules. Sohail Afridi, the region’s chief minister, had earlier posted that the demonstration would proceed. He said the march would reach Khairabad, 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Islamabad, by Thursday, and the “next phase” would be announced there.

The government has spent weeks preparing for the protesters’ arrival in the capital. Shipping containers have been used as barriers to block main access routes. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi confirmed on Sunday that talks had failed and accused Afridi of “sabotaging” negotiations. Naqvi said the government would not allow PTI to “create a disturbance,” citing a September 14 Islamabad High Court order that no political party has the “lawful right to occupy public roads, highways, interchanges, toll plazas and buildings in Islamabad.”

“If they violate the orders, whether they are workers or politicians, whether they are protesting within KP or outside KP, we will pursue them one by one,” Naqvi said. “This time, we want to ensure that these repeated episodes of creating disturbance in Islamabad come to an end.”

Concerns about the 73-year-old Khan’s health, especially his right eye needing months of specialist treatment, have driven PTI’s campaign. The party also demanded the release of Khan’s three sisters, whose arrests last month further raised tensions.

James Dorsey, a fellow at the National University of Singapore, called Khan “essentially a populist leader” with “a genuine popular movement that had broad popular support.” That, he said, explains the government’s determination to keep protesters out of Islamabad. But he told AFP that given Pakistan’s security concerns, particularly after the unresolved February 2026 conflict with Afghanistan, Islamabad wants to avoid escalation. “It’s a problem for the government, but I don’t think it’s an existential threat,” Dorsey said.