Pakistan Seals Capital Ahead of Opposition March, Testing Political Stability

Pakistan blocked major highways into Islamabad with shipping containers and deployed tens of thousands of security personnel this week ahead of a march planned by supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the starkest security operation in the capital in nearly two years.

Interior Ministry officials said nearly 35,000 additional police and paramilitary personnel had been stationed in and around Islamabad by Wednesday, with further deployments in other cities where Khan’s supporters might gather. Two highways linking the capital to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party governs, were closed until further notice, along with routes connecting Islamabad to Punjab. Authorities also sealed the city’s Red Zone, the district housing Parliament, the prime minister’s residence and foreign embassies, and closed 24 government schools to house incoming police units.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party called the march for Sunday, Sept. 27, to demand the release of Khan, who has been imprisoned since 2023 following a corruption conviction that his party says was politically engineered. In the days before the march, authorities detained three of Khan’s sisters, including Aleema Khan, and hundreds of party activists, citing the need to maintain public order. PTI leaders said five of the party’s lawmakers in the National Assembly and a provincial minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were also arrested, which they described as unacceptable given that PTI governs the province.

The government has grounded its position in a Sept. 14 ruling by the Islamabad High Court, which held that no political party, politician, provincial government or public officeholder has the legal right to occupy public roads, highways, interchanges, toll plazas or government buildings in the capital. The court also directed authorities to keep roads, hospitals, workplaces and schools accessible to ordinary citizens during any security operation.

Government warns of a ‘once and for all’ response

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore on Monday that the government would enforce the court order in full and would not allow the country to be shut down for days at a time over the protest. He said PTI could “never achieve anything through such drama,” and urged the party’s leadership to reconsider before the march went ahead. Naqvi said police had been instructed to respond forcefully if demonstrators turned violent, though he did not specify what that would involve, and said the government was also considering a broader, longer-term approach to recurring PTI protests, without giving details of what that might entail.

PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan said the march would go ahead despite the security cordon. Party leaders and allied politicians said they had sought dialogue with the government through elected representatives but that talks broke down after Naqvi insisted the protest call be withdrawn; PTI said only Imran Khan himself could rescind it. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, a Khan ally, publicly clashed with Naqvi over the interior minister’s remarks, and PTI officials raised the possibility that the federal government could move to impose governor’s rule in the party-run province, an accusation Naqvi did not directly confirm or deny when asked by reporters.

Authorities were also weighing a suspension of mobile phone and internet service in parts of the capital as part of the security plan, though officials said any such step would depend on how the situation develops. Security around Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where Khan is held, has been reinforced with measures similar to those used in the Red Zone.

Background

Khan, 73, a former cricket star who became prime minister in 2018, was removed from office in a 2022 no-confidence vote and has been imprisoned since 2023 on charges he says were fabricated to keep him out of politics. He faces more than 150 criminal cases. The military, which PTI accuses of engineering his removal and prosecution, denies the allegation. Naqvi said this week that Khan had undergone a medical checkup and that the government would provide treatment “in accordance with the law,” rejecting PTI’s characterization of his health needs.

The Sept. 27 march is the largest PTI mobilization since a similar “Final Call” march in November 2024, when thousands of Khan’s supporters broke through a container blockade and reached the edge of Islamabad’s Red Zone. That operation ended after security forces cleared the area using tear gas and gunfire; at least seven people were killed, including four security personnel struck by a vehicle, and hundreds more were arrested. The government denied firing on protesters directly, while a senior PTI ally at the time said hundreds of demonstrators had been shot. Those competing accounts were never independently reconciled.

What follows

Whether Sunday’s march proceeds as planned, and whether it produces confrontation on the scale of 2024, remained unconfirmed as of Thursday. PTI leaders have not said how large a turnout they expect or whether they would call off the protest if talks resume before the weekend. The government has not detailed what a “permanent solution” to recurring PTI demonstrations would involve, including whether it might pursue a ban on the party, an option Naqvi did not rule out when asked directly.

Sources

Reuters wire reporting establishes the security deployment figures and the government’s public position; Pakistani national and local outlets supply detail on court proceedings, arrests and political reaction not carried by the wires; Al Jazeera, AP and Wikipedia’s sourced account of the 2024 march provide background corroborated across multiple outlets.

Wire services and international press

• Reuters (via The Business Standard), “Pakistan tightens security ahead of march planned by Imran Khan’s party.” https://www.tbsnews.net/world/south-asia/pakistan-tightens-security-ahead-march-planned-imran-khans-party-1551601
• Al Jazeera, “Pakistan police crackdown clears Imran Khan protesters from Islamabad.” https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2024/11/27/pakistan-police-crackdown-clears-khan-protestors-from-islamabad
• PBS NewsHour (carrying AP), “Lockdown in Pakistan’s capital ends after police disperse protestors demanding release of Imran Khan.” https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/world/lockdown-in-pakistans-capital-ends-after-police-disperse-protestors-demanding-release-of-imran-khan

Local press (proceedings and documents)

• Dawn, “Interior Minister Naqvi warns PTI against Sept 27 protest call, urges party to change course.” https://www.dawn.com/news/2031568
• Dawn, “Naqvi vows ‘full govt response’ to PTI’s march.” https://www.dawn.com/news/2031744/naqvi-vows-full-govt-response-to-ptis-march
• The Express Tribune, “Govt, PTI on warpath after ‘once & for all’ threat.” https://tribune.com.pk/story/2630684/govt-pti-on-warpath-after-once-for-all-threat
• Pakistan Observer, “Islamabad Red Zone faces Complete Lockdown as PTI March nears.” https://pakobserver.net/islamabad-red-zone-faces-complete-lockdown-as-pti-march-nears/
• Daily Pakistan, “Islamabad Traffic Plan: Which roads to be Sealed ahead of PTI 27 Sept. March?” https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/18-Sep-2026/islamabad-traffic-plan-which-roads-to-be-sealed-ahead-of-pti-27-sept-march
• Daily Ausaf, “24 govt educational institutions in Islamabad to remain closed from Today.” https://dailyausaf.com/en/pakistan/24-govt-educational-institutions-in-islamabad-to-remain-closed-from-today/

Background and prior proceedings

• Wikipedia, “November 2024 PTI protest” (accessed Sept. 24, 2026). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_2024_PTI_protest
• Al Jazeera, “Pakistani capital in lockdown before march by Imran Khan’s supporters” (Nov. 24, 2024). https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/24/pakistani-capital-in-lockdown-before-march-by-imran-khans-supporters

Editor’s note on sourcing A figure of “more than 22,000” security personnel, cited by a secondary aggregator, conflicts with the roughly 35,000 figure Reuters attributed directly to an interior ministry official; this article uses the Reuters-sourced number. Claims in one opinion-style local piece — that a smuggling network or a UK-based public-relations effort is funding or promoting the march — appeared in only one outlet, were unattributed to any named source, and have been excluded. The precise size of any turnout on Sept. 27, and whether the march proceeds peacefully, cannot be confirmed ahead of the event.