PTI long march unprepared, Kundi says; Afridi set to announce

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said on Friday that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has made no preparations for its planned 27 September long march on Islamabad and that party leaders are looking for an exit. His remarks came as Aaj News reported that Chief Minister Sohail Afridi is expected to make a major announcement later in the day about the march, with provincial lawmakers advising that it be postponed.

The PTI has called the march for 27 September. Ahead of it, the federal government has placed shipping containers on highways and called in Rangers in Islamabad and Punjab. PTI has alleged that several of its leaders have been detained or abducted, and founder Imran Khan's sisters and other family members have been placed under 30-day detention in Lahore, according to Independent Urdu.

Speaking to the media in Peshawar, Kundi said PTI leaders had gone into hiding and were asking to be arrested to avoid the march. "They want an escape route," he said, adding that "today or tomorrow they may announce taking such a route." He said the party appeared to have no plan and dismissed claims that it could bring one or two million people, saying its parliamentarians were "sitting in Islamabad cafés" and running the march on social media.

Aaj News, citing sources, reported that KP assembly members had recommended postponing the march and proposed holding an all-parties conference in early October instead. PTI's central leadership in Islamabad also agreed to strengthen contacts with other opposition parties, the channel said.

Federal ministers Azam Nazeer Tarar and Talal Chaudhry chaired a meeting in Islamabad to review administrative and political measures ahead of the march. Sources told Aaj News that the meeting reviewed a Punjab government request to suspend internet services but agreed not to shut them down immediately, adopting a wait-and-see policy. The option of talks with PTI leadership was also under consideration, and the final situation would become clear after Afridi's announcement.

Kundi also criticised the KP cabinet's approval of the Police Act 2026, saying the provincial government wanted to turn the police into a "Tiger Force". He said he would never sign the bill into law and would stand as a wall between the police and the act.