PTI parliamentary majority advises deferring Oct 4 march: sources

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) parliamentary party held a meeting to discuss its upcoming October 4 long march on Islamabad, with a majority of participants advising the party leadership to defer the protest, party sources said.

According to the sources, most of the members said that the current situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could expose the party and the provincial government to further risks.

The PTI parliamentary party meeting was held at the Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar to discuss the political situation in the province and the party’s planned march.

According to party sources, most participants suggested postponing the October 4 march, arguing that it would not serve the party’s interests under the prevailing circumstances.

The members expressed concern that the federal government could impose emergency or governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and such a move could cause “irreparable damage” to the party and its provincial government, the sources said.

They also suggested that the party should adopt an alternative strategy to press for its demands instead of proceeding with the long march at this stage.

PTI provincial spokesperson Shaukat Yousafzai has already written to the party leadership seeking postponement of the march, according to the sources.

The meeting comes amid heightened political tensions between the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments, with federal ministers and the KP governor publicly discussing the possibility of imposing governor’s rule in the province.

KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has said consultations were under way on the possible imposition of governor’s rule, while federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar has also said the legal grounds for such a step had been fulfilled, according to media reports.

The PTI had initially planned to start its long march from Peshawar on September 27 but deffered it to October 4 following a meeting of its political committee.

KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi had said the political committee had unanimously agreed on the new date.

At that time, party leaders cited preparations, road closures and other restrictions as among the issues surrounding the march. PTI leaders had also said the protest would be peaceful and would seek the release of party founder Imran Khan and other political objectives.

The latest calls for another postponement come a day after the Peshawar High Court rejected a petition challenging the nomination of Chief Minister Sohail Afridi as an accused in the May 9 Radio Pakistan attack case.

The petition had been filed by the special prosecutor, challenging the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) and National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) reports that were relied upon in nominating Afridi and other PTI leaders as accused in the case.

The high court upheld the orders of the anti-terrorism court.

The case relates to the ransacking and torching of the Radio Pakistan Peshawar building during the May 9-10, 2023 unrest.

Police had nominated Afridi, former provincial ministers Taimur Saleem Jhagra and Kamran Bangash, PTI Peshawar district president Irfan Saleem and party activist Amir Khan Chamkani as accused following forensic and NADRA reports concerning video footage and photographs. The defence has disputed the identification and the relevance of some of the footage to the Radio Pakistan incident.

An anti-terrorism court on Monday directed the investigating officer to submit the challan in the case after the IO sought more time to complete the charge sheet.

The court is conducting the trial involving the Radio Pakistan attack, while the prosecution has yet to complete the supplementary proceedings concerning the newly nominated accused.

The political developments surrounding the case have added to the uncertainty facing the PTI-led provincial government, particularly as the federal government and opposition remain at odds over law and order, counterterrorism policy and the proposed long march.

Meanwhile, PTI’s parliamentary party was expected to review the proposals made during Tuesday’s meeting before Chief Minister Sohail Afridi addresses a press conference at 7pm on the decisions taken by the meeting.

Until that announcement, the October 4 march remains the publicly announced PTI schedule, although the latest meeting indicates that the date is again under discussion.