What happened
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) observed a nationwide “Black Day” on Wednesday, 5 August 2026, to mark three years since the imprisonment of its founder and former prime minister Imran Khan, and renewed its demand for his release.
The party said demonstrations were held in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, Umerkot, Mithi, Nangarparkar, Kunri, Khipro, Sanghar, Pano Aqil, Ghotki, Kandhkot, Kashmore, Larkana, Dadu, Sukkur, Rohri, Badin and other towns across Sindh, as well as in the other provinces.
Khan has been in prison since August 2023, when he was arrested and later convicted in a corruption case. He has since faced further convictions and prosecutions, including cases relating to corruption, the disclosure of official secrets and marriage laws. Khan and PTI reject all the allegations, saying the cases are politically motivated and intended to keep him out of politics.
The Karachi clashes
In Karachi, police and PTI workers clashed near the Karachi Press Club, according to The Express Tribune. Authorities sealed roads leading to the venue with shipping containers, triggering traffic congestion and confrontations that ended with tear gas shelling and multiple arrests.
When PTI workers gathered near Fawara Chowk, police used tear gas to disperse the crowd and detained several protesters, including PTI Sindh Secretary General Dr Masroor Siyal. Tear gas also affected traders, shoppers and women in the nearby Zainab Market and adjoining commercial areas.
PTI said party leaders including Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh, Karachi President Raja Azhar and Karachi Secretary General Arsalan Khalid led workers towards the press club before police blocked their route. The party alleged that police used tear gas and baton charges against what it described as peaceful demonstrators on Zeb-un-Nisa Street and around Fawara Chowk, injuring several workers, and claimed that more than 10 workers were arrested in Karachi, six in Pano Aqil and 15 in Kandhkot, where criminal cases were registered.
The protest caused widespread traffic congestion across the city, leaving commuters stranded for hours on II Chundrigar Road, MA Jinnah Road, Saddar and adjoining areas. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah took notice of the gridlock and directed the police to restore traffic flow, deploy additional traffic police and submit a report.
Why it matters
The third anniversary of Khan’s arrest has again become a rallying point for PTI, which says the imprisonment paved the way for governments formed on what it calls a fake mandate and argues that Pakistan’s crises can be resolved only through the release of political prisoners and free, fair and transparent elections. The party says the protests were held with official permission and has demanded the release of detained workers and the withdrawal of cases against them. Earlier this year, opposition and PTI leaders protested outside the Supreme Court over Imran Khan’s health and cases, and in May the PTI-led TTAP alliance launched a nationwide protest drive over his imprisonment and inflation.
For the Sindh government, the Karachi demonstrations were also a public-order and traffic-management challenge: the chief minister’s intervention underscored how quickly the sealing of roads around the press club paralysed the city’s commercial heart.
