Pakistan Blocks Roads, Deploys 35,000 Police Ahead of Imran Khan Protest March

Roadblocks and Detentions

Pakistan imposed restrictions on entry to Islamabad ahead of a protest that supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan plan to organize next Sunday, with major highways blocked with shipping containers and tens of thousands of security personnel deployed.

The National Highway Authority closed two main roads linking Islamabad to the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province until further notice, while a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry told Reuters that nearly 35,000 additional police and paramilitary personnel had been deployed in the capital and its surroundings.

Authorities also arrested three of Khan’s sisters, Aleema Khan, Dr. Ausma Khan, and Noorain Khan, along with hundreds of party activists, and a deputy commissioner of Lahore issued two separate orders to detain the three sisters for 30 days under the Public Order Act in Punjab.

Imran Khan’s party said the September 27 march would head to Islamabad to demand his release, and the party also called for Khan to receive proper medical care while he remains in detention and for regular visits by his family and lawyers.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the government would do its utmost to prevent the protest march, while Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the call to protest was illegal.

PTI and Government Clash

Pakistan’s junior interior minister Talal Chaudhry warned that the government would not tolerate unlawful activity or actions threatening lives and property, telling DW, "If you are a peaceful citizen, come to Islamabad from any route, come 100 times." DW reported that Khan’s London-based sons, Sulaiman and Kasim Khan, said they had received "little to no information" about their father’s health and accused authorities of preventing him from accessing appropriate medical care. The DW account said Khan’s sons urged authorities to obey the Supreme Court orders immediately and shift him to Shifa International Hospital so he could be assessed by independent doctors, and they said he had lost 85% of the vision in his right eye.

The DW report also said Khan’s three sisters were detained in Lahore and ordered to be held for 30 days under a public order ordinance, with detention orders citing concerns they were a threat to public safety and maintenance of public order. Michael Kugelman, a South Asia analyst at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told DW that the arrests would likely further energize Khan’s supporters, saying, "The arrests will galvanize what is already an angry and anxious Khan support base."

Reporting for this sectionDW

Security Zone and Stakes

Reuters reported that Pakistan closed major roads leading to the capital using shipping containers and deployed about 35,000 additional police and paramilitary personnel in Islamabad and its surroundings, as the government treated the march as both a security and political challenge. The National Highway Authority closed two main routes linking Islamabad to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while authorities set up shipping containers around the government area known as the Red Zone, which the Interior Ministry official said houses the Parliament, the Prime Minister’s residence, and several foreign embassies. The government said it aimed to prevent disruption to traffic and daily life, and Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the call for protest was illegal, stressing that the government would not allow road closures or disruption of public life.

Amnesty International said the detention of Imran Khan’s family members and PTI activists constitutes a violation of their rights to freedom and to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, and it called on authorities to immediately release Khan relatives and PTI workers. The Media Line reported that Islamabad Police had sought more than 1,000 shipping containers to secure the Red Zone and high-security areas, and it said the Red Zone had been completely sealed.

Reporting for this sectionEuronewsThe Media Line