PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders and workers on Tuesday staged protest rallies in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, demanding the immediate release of the party’s jailed founder, Imran Khan.

The rallies, arranged at district level, were led by the local MNAs, MPAs, tehsil council chairmen and party leaders.

Unlike Punjab, no arrests were reported in the province ruled by the PTI.

The PTI workers assembled at the respective venues and organised processions in vehicles and on motorcycles without any resistance from police and other law-enforcement agencies. They marched on the roads while waving PTI flags and shouting slogans for the release of Imran and other senior party leaders.

Participants call for fresh free and fair elections

The major protest in the province was led by Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in Peshawar, with MNA Sher Ali Arbab, provincial ministers, MPAs and party office-bearers in attendance.

The PTI workers from different parts of the provincial capital gathered at Hayatabad Toll Plaza from where a procession was taken out under the leadership of the chief minister. The procession moved slowly on the Ring Road and culminated outside the Qila Balahisar.

The PTI MPAs and MNAs were instructed by the party’s leadership to bring workers in vehicles and on bikes, who joined the main procession.

The rally passed on the GT Road near Hashtnagri area as the last reports came in.

In Swabi, the PTI took out a rally, with leaders asking the “hybrid regime” to abandon power and announce a schedule for free and fair general elections to allow the truly elected representatives to rule the country.

They lamented the sentence handed down to PTI leaders and workers and declared that the struggle started by Imran Khan in 1996 would continue until objectives were achieved.

The Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway was closed at 5pm at Swabi Interchange. Both sides of M1 were closed to traffic despite various attempts made by Motorway police. The motorway was opened at 7:30pm after the demonstrators left.

Former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser said that Imran was offered to go to his Banigala house or to Murree but he refused to accept the offer and declared he would continue his struggle for the country from jail.

“Now, the people who lose elections are occupying assemblies. Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif, too, was defeated in general elections. PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif has lost the election by 50,000 votes,” he claimed.

Mr Qaiser said the ruling PML-N and PPP were not popular parties as their leaders were involved in corrupt practices.

He opposed any fresh military operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and said people won’t allow that to happen under any circumstances.

The PTI leader said that the party had been advocating for the supremacy of the Constitution, an independent judicial system and the rule of those who were actually elected by the people in 2024.

PTI MNA Shahram Khan Tarakai said a new movement for “true freedom” had commenced and it would continue until Imran was released and the rule of law prevailed in the country.

MNA Atif Khan said the national institutions had tried hard to drive Imran out of the country like Nawaz Sharif, but he wasn’t ready to bow down to such pressure tactics.

Imran Khan’s relative Ahmad Khan Naizi said that the people of KP had once again proved through large protests that they loved Imran and would continue standing with him.

The PTI activists also held rallies across upper parts of Hazara division, demanding the release of Imran.

The rallies, organised in Mansehra, Torghar, Upper and Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas, converged into a large rally led by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Babar Saleem Swati.

According to PTI office-bearers, all rallies across Hazara Division gathered in Mansehra before moving to Jarikas under the leadership of Speaker Swati.

PTI provincial deputy president Kamal Saleem Swati led the rally from Mansehra, while a march in Balakot was staged under the leadership of MPA Munir Hussain Lughmani.

The ruling party’s parliamentarians and workers from Haripur and Abbottabad demonstrated for the release of Imran.

The Haripur and Abbottabad rallies, led by the local PTI MNAs and MPAs, gathered at the Shah Maqsood Interchange of Hazara Motorway to jointly move in a motorcade towards the endpoint at Jhari Kass interchange.

The protesters, carrying banners and placards and shouting slogans, declared the conviction and detention of Imran acts of injustice.

Criticising the judicial system over “failure to dispense justice” to PTI leaders, the speakers feared that things could go out of control.

The protesters blocked the Hazara Motorway for over 30 minutes near Shah Maqsood interchange until protesters from Abbottabad, Mansehra and other areas showed up. At the Jhari Kass Interchange, the exit point of the rally, the PTI lawmakers and workers blocked traffic for some time before dispersing peacefully.

Noted among speakers were former minister Yousuf Ayub Khan, minister Arshad Ayub Khan and MPA Akbar Ayub Khan. Speaker of the KP Assembly Babar Salim Swati, MPAs Nazir Abbasi, Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, Adeel Iqbal, Iftikhar Khan and Ikram Ghazi, MNAs Ali Asghar Khan and Ali Khan Jadoon, former MNA Uzma Riaz Jadoon, Insaf Labour Wing Hazara president Sardar Zakir and general secretary Tahir Amin were also present.

Rallies were also staged in Charsadda, Lower and Upper Dir, Mohmand, Battagarm, Dera Ismail Khan, Swat, Malakand, Kohat and other districts for the release of PTI founder Imran Khan.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2025