October 7: The long march of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, left Mattani on the edge of Peshawar on Wednesday and headed for Khyber district, where it was due to spend the night, The Express Tribune reported. It is the fourth day of a march that set out from Lakki Marwat on October 4 to press for jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s rights and release. Ahead of it, steel containers filled with sand block the Khairabad bridge over the Indus, the crossing into Punjab, Dawn reported.
Key highlights
- Afridi said on Tuesday that the march would go to Khyber before Peshawar for strategic reasons, without giving details, according to The Express Tribune.
- The convoy aims to reach Khairabad, on the border with Punjab, on October 8, Dawn reported earlier.
- Senior government figure Rana Sanaullah said the government would not accept political demands “through pressure or attempts to hold the state hostage”.
- Dawn’s Ismail Khan wrote that a decision to proclaim a state of emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been taken “in principle”, to be used if the marchers try to force their way to Islamabad.
- “They cannot go any further than Attock,” Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said, according to Dawn.
Where the march stands
The convoy has moved slowly and by an indirect road. The table below sets out its progress so far and the stops still planned.
| Date | Stage | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday, Oct 4 | Starts from Gandi Chowk, Lakki Marwat, and moves to Karak | Dawn |
| Monday, Oct 5 | Karak to Kohat | Dawn |
| Tuesday, Oct 6 | Kohat to Mattani, on the outskirts of Peshawar; overnight in Mattani | Dawn |
| Wednesday, Oct 7 | Mattani to Khyber district; overnight in Khyber | The Express Tribune |
| Thursday, Oct 8 (planned) | Through Peshawar by the Ring Road, the M-1 motorway to Swabi, then the Swabi–Jehangira road to Khairabad | Dawn |
| After that | Afridi is to announce the next step at Khairabad | Dawn |
What PTI is asking for
PTI’s central information secretary, Shafi Jan, listed Afridi’s demands in a post on X, The Express Tribune reported: a meeting with Imran Khan, access for Khan to his personal physicians, justice for his wife Bushra Bibi and other family members, decisions in the cases against him on merit, and a peace strategy for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa drawn up in consultation with all stakeholders.
“The people of Kohat made it clear through their enthusiastic welcome that the people stand with CM Afridi,” Jan wrote. On suggestions that Afridi could be removed from office, he said: “You should worry about yourself.” Afridi himself said earlier in the march: “Your failed policy did not end terrorism. Let me propose a policy under which peace can be established in 100 days,” according to Dawn.
The government’s line
Rana Sanaullah said the government would not accept political demands “through pressure or attempts to hold the state hostage”, and accused PTI of seeking instability and of opposing counter-terrorism operations, The Express Tribune reported. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged the party to give up the march and talk, Dawn reported on Tuesday. Talks between the two sides failed before the march began, as we reported when PTI went ahead after 11 hours of negotiations.
What waits at the Indus
In a situation report on Wednesday, Dawn’s Ismail Khan described the choke point. The Khairabad bridge, which carries the Grand Trunk Road from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa into Attock district of Punjab, has been closed with sand-filled steel containers. The drive from Peshawar to Attock normally takes about two hours.
He also questioned the route. “No one has been able to explain why the organisers plan to take such a circuitous route, switching from the motorway to GT Road, when all they would have to do is cross the M1 bridge over the Indus and enter Punjab,” he wrote. The detour is reported to keep the convoy away from the Nowshera cantonment and to delay a confrontation, which leaves time for talks. Khan wrote that Afridi, who is 37, “has taken perhaps the biggest risk of his political career”. One PTI lawmaker told him: “We will be at our peaceful best.”
What it means
The slow pace looks deliberate. Each extra night on the road inside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where PTI runs the provincial government, costs the party little and keeps the pressure on Islamabad without a clash. The real test comes at the provincial border. On one side is a chief minister leading a protest with his own province behind him; on the other is a federal government that, by Dawn’s account, is ready to use emergency powers in that province if the marchers try to push on to the capital.
That is why the detour through Khyber and Swabi matters. It buys time for talks, which the prime minister has publicly asked for, and it lets Afridi arrive at Khairabad with a crowd but without having forced the bridge. What he announces there, whether a sit-in at the border, a return, or an attempt to cross, will decide whether this ends as a show of strength or as a confrontation between the centre and a province. The timing is awkward for the region too: Pakistan has just committed forces to Saudi Arabia under the Makkah defence pact while its own north-west is in political turmoil.
What to watch
- Whether the convoy reaches Khairabad on October 8 as planned, and what Afridi announces there.
- Any move by the federal government on emergency powers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
- Signs of renewed talks, and any change in Imran Khan’s access to his family, lawyers and doctors.
Sources
- The Express Tribune: PTI long march enters fourth day, heads to Khyber as party rallies behind Afridi
- Dawn: Situationer: The long road to Attock
- Dawn: PTI long march: CM Afridi-led convoy camps in Mattani for the night, heads to Khyber next
The International Desk covers world and Asian affairs, diplomacy and conflict, with a focus on what they mean for India. Stories are checked against at least two credible sources before publication.
