Updated: Friday, 25 September 2026
Islamabad has spent this week behind shipping containers. The government has blocked highways to the capital and set up container barriers in preparation for the PTI protest, which seeks ex-PM Imran Khan’s release from jail. Two days before the PTI protest 27 September date, it is still not clear whether the march will leave on Sunday or wait until October.
The decision sits with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi. The march toward Islamabad is being led by Afridi, and PTI frames it as a struggle for Imran Khan’s release, constitutional rights, and political justice.
Latest update: is the PTI protest 27 September still on?
As of Friday, nothing was final. At a PTI leadership meeting in Peshawar, most members proposed postponing the long march and suggested October 5 to 10 as the new timeframe. A proposal was also made to convene an All Parties Conference between October 6 and 10. Reports say PTI leaders have been meeting JUI-F and the PPP about the march. CM KP to make important announcement regarding long march today
Barrister Gohar, Sohail Afridi, Asad Qaiser, Salman Akram Raja and Junaid Akbar were among those at the meeting, and Afridi called a press conference for 3pm at CM House in Peshawar, where he was expected to make a major announcement about the march.
Only two days earlier, the party sounded certain. On Wednesday, PTI vowed to go ahead with the march under all circumstances and told workers not to carry sticks, slingshots or any weapons. Party spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram said no one in an online strategy meeting had suggested postponing it.
Why PTI called the march
Afridi first announced the long march at a rally in Peshawar on August 5. The party is demanding Imran Khan’s release and what it calls the restoration of constitutional supremacy. Khan has been in prison since August 2023. He and Bushra Bibi were convicted on December 20, 2025, and given 17 years in the Toshakhana-II case.
Afridi says PTI spent two years trying to resolve its issues through the assemblies and the courts without result, and that the government ignored court orders about meetings with Khan and a Supreme Court order on his treatment at Shifa International Hospital. The party and Khan’s family have also asked for him to be moved to a private health facility because of concerns about his health. DawnDawn
The plan didn’t start with the whole party behind it. After the August announcement, several senior PTI leaders said they had no prior knowledge of it, and a hashtag rejecting the 27 September date circulated on social media.
A “Test match,” not a T20
Afridi says PTI does not want confrontation and that the march will stay peaceful and within the Constitution and the law. He has also made it clear he isn’t planning a one-day show. “The long march is not a T20, it will be a Test match,” he said, a reference to cricket’s five-day format. In other words, PTI is thinking about a long sit-in.
How the government is preparing
Section 144 and thousands of police
The Islamabad administration has imposed Section 144 and asked citizens to stay away from unlawful gatherings. According to The Express Tribune, the city will be monitored from Safe City headquarters, and more than 200,000 soil bags have been arranged, along with 110,000 tear-gas shells and 1,300 tear-gas rifles. More than 43,000 personnel are being deployed in Attock, Rawalpindi, Murree, Jhelum and Chakwal to stop protesters from entering the twin cities. Section 144 imposed in Islamabad as PTI gears up for Sept 27 protest
Inside Islamabad, workers have welded containers together and filled them with gravel and sand so they can’t be pushed aside, and some schools and colleges have been told to close so police from Punjab and Sindh can stay in them. Local media report that police expect between 20,000 and 25,000 people.
What ministers are saying
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told PTI “not enter a dead-end street” and said he believed the government would find a permanent solution this time. He pointed to an Islamabad High Court order ruling that no political party has a lawful right to occupy public roads, highways, interchanges, toll plazas and buildings in Islamabad.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif called the march a potentially decisive confrontation and said PTI would not be able to make similar attempts afterwards. Ministers have also used a remark by Junaid Akbar, PTI’s chief in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who said protesters would turn Islamabad into Somnath, to present the march as a law and order threat.
On talks, the government’s position is simple. Rana Sanaullah has said there will be no talks with PTI until the Islamabad march is postponed.
Islamabad roads closed: what commuters need to know
If you travel between KP and the twin cities this weekend, plan for long detours. The M-1 is closed in both directions between Islamabad Toll Plaza and Chachh Interchange, and the M-14 (the CPEC route) is closed in both directions between Hakla and Kundal. GT Road is blocked in both directions at Attock Khurd, the Hazara Motorway is blocked near its interchange, the Abbottabad-Hassanabdal Road is closed at Jhari Kas and the Rawalpindi-Kohat Road at Khushalgarh.
The M-2 motorway between Lahore and Islamabad remains open. Inside the city, two of the five entry points to the Red Zone have been closed, and containers are in place around Tarnol, Sangjani, Shahrah-e-Iran, 26 Number Chungi and Srinagar Highway. Barriers have also been put up at Faizabad and Kashmir Highway, with spikes, nails and sandbags added in some places. Islamabad Traffic Update: Key Roads, Motorways Closures ahead of PTI Protest
At a press conference on Thursday, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said all 125 roads to Islamabad were open, but a fact check found several major routes still closed. Commuters are being told to check official travel advisories before starting a journey.
Arrests before the march
Aleema Khan was detained in Lahore on Sunday, and her sisters Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi were taken from their homes in a raid before dawn the next day, according to a family statement. They are held under a 1960 public order law that allows preventive detention without charge. Talal Chaudhry said the sisters faced several cases and were being held as a preventive measure. ‘Source of anxiety’: Pakistan cracks down before march to free Imran Khan
PTI chairman Barrister Gohar says 1,500 workers have been detained, along with five MNAs and a former senator. Afridi has alleged that men in plain clothes have been targeting PTI workers and elected representatives, and that a provincial minister was abducted and had his car fired on.
Why November 2024 still shapes this march
PTI’s last big march on Islamabad, on November 26, 2024, ended in an overnight crackdown in which the party says at least 12 of its supporters were killed. The government denies that and says four security personnel died.
Security in KP is another worry. An attack on a police compound in Kohat killed more than 20 people on September 18, and Naqvi has pointed to the recent attacks in KP when arguing against the march.
PTI isn’t the only group heading for the capital. Jamaat-e-Islami set out for Islamabad over fuel prices but postponed its march after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called its leader. Kissan Ittehad has also announced a separate march to seek relief for farmers.
Writing in The Friday Times, journalist Muhammad Sajjad Anwar argues that neither PTI nor the establishment appears to have an exit strategy.
What to watch next
If Sunday’s date holds, Attock will be the first real test. Containers and sandbags are in place around Attock Bridge and Haroon Bridge, and about 30,000 personnel are reportedly being deployed across the district. If PTI moves the march to October, attention will shift to the proposed All Parties Conference and to whether the motorways reopen in the meantime.
We will update this post after Afridi’s press conference.
Frequently asked questions
Is the PTI protest 27 September postponed?
No final decision had been announced by Friday afternoon. Party leaders suggested October 5 to 10 as a new timeframe, and the final call was expected after Afridi’s press conference.
Who is leading the PTI long march?
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi is leading it.
Which roads to Islamabad are closed?
The M-1, the M-14 and GT Road at Attock Khurd are closed, along with the Hazara Motorway near its interchange. The M-2 from Lahore is open.
Is Section 144 in force in Islamabad?
Yes. The Islamabad administration imposed it ahead of the planned march.
What are PTI’s demands?
The release of Imran Khan and what the party calls the restoration of constitutional supremacy.