PTI finalises October 4 march plan as Rangers stay in Islamabad and Punjab until October 15

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf says preparations for its long march on Islamabad are complete, announcing a 1pm departure on Sunday, October 4, from Gandi Chowk in Lakki Marwat — even as the federal government extended the deployment of Pakistan Rangers in Islamabad and parts of Punjab until October 15.

The Rangers extension, reported by 24NewsHD TV, pushes the paramilitary force’s deployment ten days beyond the previously approved October 5 deadline. Rangers personnel are currently deployed in Islamabad, Attock, Rawalpindi and Jhelum, while troops are on alert in Mianwali, Lahore and other areas, officials told the channel. According to Minute Mirror, the extension follows requests from the Islamabad chief commissioner and the Punjab Home Department, and is tied to security preparations around the PTI march, with personnel tasked with maintaining law and order during political activities.

The march itself will be led by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, departing at 1pm under the party’s published schedule. The convoy is expected to stop in Karak before moving toward Kohat on October 5 and reaching Peshawar on October 6, from where it proceeds to Swabi — the convergence point for separate convoys from Malakand, Hazara and the tribal districts — before the push toward Islamabad.

Provincial president Junaid Akbar will lead the Malakand convoy, and provincial information minister Shafee Jan said preparations were complete. Afridi told a fundraising event in Peshawar that the party had collected Rs40 million in a single day for the march, thanked contributors, and urged participants to keep the protest peaceful and unarmed.

PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa information secretary Shaukat Yousafzai said the party’s three demands remain access to incarcerated founder Imran Khan, his transfer to a hospital, and early hearings of his cases — and described Friday’s round of government-opposition talks as “encouraging”, with Islamabad remaining the march’s destination.

Meanwhile, Minute Mirror reported that at a PTI political and core committee meeting after the first round of talks, chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan briefed members on the discussions, during which senior leader Salman Akram Raja reportedly told participants the government appeared to have a complete plan for imposing an emergency. Sources said most participants favoured continuing negotiations, with postponing — rather than cancelling — the march discussed if the government makes meaningful progress.

The march follows Saturday’s second round of talks in National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq’s chamber, where the government formally demanded the unconditional withdrawal of the October 4 march and said Islamabad permission would be refused “under any circumstances”, with both sides adjourning for separate consultations.