What happened
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) said on Friday 29 May 2026 that its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president and Member of the National Assembly, Junaid Akbar, and several other party lawmakers were detained at a checkpoint in Gilgit-Baltistan and then expelled from the region while campaigning for the 7 June general election.
In a post on X, PTI said Akbar was held along with MNAs Saleemur Rehman, Amjad Ali Khan and Syed Mehboob Shah, MPA Naeem and Dr Nawaz. The party said the group was stopped by the Gilgit-Baltistan administration while returning from Ghizer district and was later taken to Gilgit. PTI also shared a video on social media that it said showed the detention, in which Akbar and the others appeared seated inside a vehicle with a police official visible nearby.
Akbar posted on X that PTI workers and supporters had gathered in Ghizer for a public rally ahead of the election, and that he and his colleagues had first been stopped on the way there because they did not have a no-objection certificate. “Isn’t Gilgit-Baltistan a part of Pakistan? Why does a Pakistani need a no-objection certificate to travel within their own country?” he wrote.
He later said he had been told to leave Gilgit-Baltistan and was stopped again at a checkpoint while departing, after which he and PTI announced on X that he had been “expelled” from the region. PTI described the episode as “political revenge, pre-poll rigging and an attack on democracy” and demanded a level playing field and transparent elections.
The party’s response
Former National Assembly opposition leader Omar Ayub condemned the reported action on X, writing that it showed the “Form 47 installed regime” wanted a “bogus ‘selection’ instead of a free and fair election”. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief minister also criticised the Gilgit-Baltistan administration, warning that if the lawmakers were not released he would travel to the region himself, and accusing the authorities of denying PTI a level playing field.
The government’s account
The Gilgit-Baltistan government disputed the arrest claim. Its spokesperson, Shabbir Mir, said the impression that the caretaker chief minister had ignored a call from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister was incorrect, and said the chief minister had called back after a medical examination. Mir said no political party or candidate was being discriminated against and that a level playing field was being provided to all parties and independents. He said some political leaders from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had not followed the election code of conduct and rules, and that the authorities had expelled them after an election monitoring officer raised the issue. “No arrest was made,” he said, adding that those who violated the law would be dealt with according to the law.
Why it matters
The dispute unfolded in the final stretch of campaigning for the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly election on 7 June 2026. PTI has repeatedly alleged that restrictions on its campaign and the loss of its election symbol were designed to shut it out of the contest, while the authorities say they are enforcing the code of conduct even-handedly. The competing accounts of what happened at the checkpoints remain unresolved, and no independent confirmation of either side’s version was available at the time of publication.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a summary of published reporting, not independent reporting. The detention is an allegation by PTI; the Gilgit-Baltistan government denied that arrests took place. Sources reviewed on 2026-05-29.
- Pakistan Today — "PTI alleges Junaid Akbar 'arrested', expelled from Gilgit-Baltistan during election drive"29 May 2026 · Reports PTI's account, the names of the lawmakers involved and the reaction of opposition figures.
- Dawn — "PTI leaders expelled from GB during electioneering; authorities allege code of conduct violation"29 May 2026 · Carries the Gilgit-Baltistan government's denial of arrests and its account of a code of conduct breach.
