Reporting snapshot · 25 September 2026. Party sources told Geo News, Dawn and The Express Tribune on Friday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had decided to postpone its long march on Islamabad, originally planned for 27 September, to early October. The reports vary between 4 and 5 October, no formal announcement has been made, and PTI's provincial information secretary denied that the march had been called off. This is a dated snapshot of a fast-moving political story, not a live tracker.
What happened
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has decided to postpone its planned long march on Islamabad — called for Sunday, 27 September, to press for the release of jailed founder Imran Khan — until early October, party sources said on Friday. The decision was reported to have been taken at a meeting of the party’s political committee in Peshawar, Geo News reported.
The reports disagree on the new date. Geo News, citing party sources, said the march was being put off until 5 October. Dawn, citing an unnamed senior leader, reported that the march would now leave Peshawar towards Islamabad on 4 October. The Express Tribune reported that the party leadership had agreed to defer the march until 4 October, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi expected to make the formal announcement. Geo said the decision would be announced after Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai and Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas were taken into confidence.
A decision yet to be formally announced
Although multiple outlets reported the decision on party sources’ authority, it had not been formally confirmed by Friday evening. PTI’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa information secretary, Shaukat Yousafzai, denied the reports that the march had been called off, telling Geo News: “No decision has been taken to call off the march and that the party is fully prepared for it.” He said a decision on the march could be taken if the federal government agreed to talks, and reiterated that the protest would remain peaceful and would not use government resources.
The Express Tribune reported that the decision to defer was reached after the party’s political committee consulted on whether to proceed on 27 September. A majority of the leadership had favoured holding the march as scheduled, the paper said, but the committee ultimately agreed to defer it. Earlier the same day, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi told a press conference that the long march “will definitely take place” despite road blockades and other measures, describing the placement of nails on roads at the provincial boundary as an attempt to cut K-P off from the rest of the country. “No matter how many nails they put in the roads, this long march will not be stopped,” he said.
The background: a lockdown ordered ahead of the march
The reported postponement comes at the end of a week in which the federal government sealed Islamabad with containers and tens of thousands of security personnel ahead of the march. The Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway (M-1), the M-14 and the Grand Trunk Road were closed from Wednesday evening, and authorities approved the deployment of Pakistan Rangers in the federal capital and several Punjab districts. The Express Tribune reported that more than 43,000 personnel were to be deployed across the Rawalpindi Division, with roughly 30,000 in Attock alone, and that hotels, restaurants, guest houses and hostels in the Faizabad area had been ordered to close from Friday night ahead of a possible march.
The build-up followed an Islamabad High Court order barring any party from occupying the capital’s roads, and weeks of government-opposition contact in which opposition leaders insisted only Imran Khan could decide the fate of the march. On Thursday, PTI leader Naeem Haider Panjutha told Dawn that the protest could be postponed if the government agreed to hold elections within six to eight months, release Imran Khan and other political prisoners, and order judicial inquiries into the 9 May and 26 November events — conditions the party’s central spokesperson, Sheikh Waqas Akram, said were not being discussed at any party forum.
The reported delay would mirror the decision of Jamaat-e-Islami, which postponed its own long march towards Islamabad at Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s request after initially setting out from Karachi.
A separate warning: governor’s rule in K-P
Alongside the march reports, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said on Friday that consultations had been held over the possibility of imposing governor’s rule in the province. Speaking to media in Peshawar, Kundi said the Constitution provided for such a measure and that consultations had taken place. He also claimed PTI workers were “giving themselves up for arrest” and “looking for a way out”, and that the provincial government was trying to turn the police into a “tiger force”. PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, for his part, accused the government of running an “undeclared governor’s rule” in K-P and said ministers should not disappear in their own province.
Why it matters
The march on Islamabad has been the central political confrontation of the week, unfolding during one of the deadliest weeks for Pakistan’s security forces. An attack on a police compound in Kohat on 18 September killed more than 20 people, and six soldiers were killed in a gunfight in nearby Hangu two days later. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has described the security measures against the march as preparation for a serious event, and analysts have warned that a confrontation could carry heavy political and economic costs at a time when Pakistan is in talks with the International Monetary Fund over its loan programme.
A postponement, if confirmed, would defuse that immediate confrontation and give both sides room to manoeuvre — PTI to regroup its mobilisation and the government to avoid a security standoff in the capital. It would also test whether the back-channel contacts reported between the two sides in recent weeks, and the conditions floated by Panjutha, are the beginning of a genuine negotiation or a tactical pause.
What is still uncertain
The most important open questions are whether the postponement is confirmed and, if so, when the march will actually take place — the sources cited by Geo News said 5 October, while Dawn and The Express Tribune reported 4 October. PTI has made no formal announcement, its provincial information secretary has denied that the march was called off, and the party’s leadership has previously insisted that only Imran Khan can decide. Whether the reported decision survives contact with the party’s public position, whether the government responds to any conditions, and whether governor’s rule in K-P is actually imposed all remain unresolved. This is a dated snapshot of a developing story.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 25 September 2026. The decision to postpone is reported on the authority of party sources by Geo News, Dawn and The Express Tribune; PTI had not formally announced the postponement when this article was prepared, and its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa information secretary denied that the march had been called off. Reports of the new date vary between 4 and 5 October.
- Geo News — PTI decides to 'postpone' Islamabad long march till Oct 525 September 2026 · Primary report of the decision taken at the PTI political committee meeting in Peshawar, the plan to announce it after taking Achakzai and Raja Nasir Abbas into confidence, Yousafzai's denial, and Kundi's governor's-rule comments.
- Dawn — PTI decides to postpone Sept 27 Islamabad long march25 September 2026 · Independent report, citing an unnamed senior leader, that the march will leave Peshawar towards Islamabad on 4 October.
- The Express Tribune — PTI postpones Islamabad march to October 4: party sources25 September 2026 · Independent report of the political committee consultation, the decision to defer until 4 October, Afridi's expected announcement, his press-conference remarks, and the Faizabad closure orders.
