Pakistan Cracks Down on Roads and Opposition Before Imran Khan March
· World · Al Jazeera, Bloomberg
Pakistan has closed major motorways and highways connecting to Islamabad ahead of a planned protest march by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), scheduled for September 27, 2026. Authorities in Islamabad have welded shipping containers together and filled them with gravel to block entry points, while schools have been closed to house police forces brought in from Punjab and Sindh. The crackdown has targeted PTI leadership, resulting in the preventive detention of Khan's three sisters and at least six party legislators under a 1960 public order law. While another opposition group, Jamaat-e-Islami, successfully suspended its own protest after talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, PTI leaders have received no such outreach. Police anticipate between 20,000 and 25,000 participants for the weekend demonstration despite the sweeping security measures.
Why it matters
The severe blockade and detentions heighten political friction in Pakistan, directly impacting commuters across major transit routes and testing the opposition party's organizational reach while Imran Khan remains imprisoned.
Read the original report — Al Jazeera
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