PTI alters long march route after Kohat sojourn

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has changed the route of its long march, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi announcing that the caravan will head to Khyber district on Tuesday night before proceeding to Peshawar.

The announcement came as the PTI convoy, led by Afridi, left Kohat on the third day of its march.

Under the earlier schedule, the caravan was due to head directly to Peshawar from Kohat and spend the night near Mattani.

Addressing participants at University Chowk in Kohat, Afridi said the plan had been changed after residents of Khyber district expressed a desire to host the marchers.

“After Khyber district, we will go to Peshawar,” Afridi said, according to remarks shared by the PTI.

Khyber district lies immediately west of Peshawar, making it a short drive from the provincial capital. The revised route will bring the caravan into the district before it enters Peshawar.

Afridi thanked the people of Kohat for their welcome and said he and his supporters would not back down from their demands.

The chief minister said the PTI had pursued what he described as all constitutional, legal and democratic avenues before resorting to street protest. He maintained that the party’s demands, including access to jailed PTI founder Imran Khan and his medical treatment, were lawful.

Afridi also said the PTI had released a draft of its demands on social media and challenged the government to identify any provision that was unconstitutional or illegal.

“We are unarmed and will record our protest peacefully,” he said, urging supporters to remain peaceful.

He criticised the federal government’s counterterrorism policy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying successive military operations and drone strikes had failed to end militancy in the province.

He claimed his proposed policy could restore peace within 100 days.

Afridi also accused the federal government of failing to act on court orders concerning Imran Khan and alleged that the former prime minister’s health was being compromised in prison.

The PTI launched the long march from Lakki Marwat on October 4 after government-opposition talks failed to resolve differences over the party’s demands and counterterrorism policy.

The convoy moved through Karak before reaching Kohat on Monday.

The earlier route envisaged the march moving from Kohat to Peshawar on October 6, then from Badaber on October 7 towards Charsadda, with Khyber district participants joining at Badaber. The revised plan puts Khyber ahead of Peshawar.

The PTI has said its wider first phase will converge at Khairabad on October 8, where the next course of action will be announced.

The PTI on Monday announced that it will go ahead with its long march on Islamabad after government-opposition talks ended in deadlock early Sunday, with the two sides failing to reach an agreement on key issues.