Thousands of supporters of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) began a march from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa towards Islamabad on October 5. The march is being led by KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and follows the collapse of negotiations between PTI and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government. PTI is demanding Khan's release and better access to him.
The federal government has responded with heavy security preparations around the capital. Roads have been blocked with containers and authorities have warned that the protesters will not be allowed to enter Islamabad. The confrontation also comes against the backdrop of a separate dispute between the federal government and the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government over counterterrorism policy. The immediate question is straightforward: will the march reach Islamabad, and how will the state respond if it does? But the political story behind it is considerably older.
How Pakistan Reached This Point
Imran Khan became prime minister in 2018 after PTI emerged as a major political force. His government was removed in April 2022 after he lost a parliamentary vote of no confidence. Khan has repeatedly alleged that Pakistan's military establishment was involved in his removal. The military has denied the allegation. His arrest in 2023 transformed the political confrontation. Violent demonstrations followed, including attacks on military installations, and the authorities launched a major crackdown on PTI. Khan subsequently faced multiple criminal cases and convictions.
He remains imprisoned, although several of his sentences have been overturned, suspended or remain under appeal. Meanwhile, Shehbaz Sharif returned as prime minister after the February 2024 election, having previously served as prime minister from April 2022 until the dissolution of parliament in August 2023. The result is an unusual political situation: a former prime minister remains one of the central figures in national politics while being physically absent from the political arena because he is in prison.
With Imran Khan still in prison, his supporters are once again marching towards Islamabad. The confrontation comes amid a long-running dispute between Khan, Pakistan’s civilian government and the country’s powerful military establishment.
By Geopolitical Analysis Desk, The Centre
06 October 2026 • 07:35 PM IST • 5 min read
The Road to Islamabad
Pakistan is entering another tense phase in the political confrontation surrounding former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Imran Khan and Pakistan’s Military Establishment
Pakistan's political history cannot easily be separated from the role of its military. The armed forces have ruled the country directly for extended periods and have remained one of its most powerful institutions even during civilian governments. The relationship between elected leaders and the military has consequently been a recurring feature of Pakistani politics.
Khan's own relationship with the military also changed dramatically. During his rise to power, his political movement was widely perceived as having a relatively workable relationship with the establishment. By the end of his premiership, that relationship had deteriorated sharply. Khan says the military was involved in his removal. The military rejects that claim. His supporters subsequently described the legal cases against him and the treatment of PTI as political persecution, while the government maintains that Khan is facing legal proceedings arising from criminal cases.
Those competing claims should not be confused with established facts. What is beyond dispute is that the conflict between Khan's political movement and Pakistan's military establishment has become one of the defining political disputes in the country. And Khan's imprisonment has not ended that dispute.
When the Political Crisis Reached the Cricket Field
The political controversy even spilled into international cricket this year. During the England–Pakistan Test at Lord's in August, former England captain and broadcaster Michael Atherton interviewed Khan's sons, Sulaiman and Kasim, about their father's health and treatment in prison. The Pakistan Cricket Board formally complained to Sky Sports after the interview was broadcast, and there were reports that Pakistan's players had considered not returning to the field after lunch. Play ultimately continued.
The episode was followed by renewed appeals from former international cricket captains for Khan to receive proper medical care. AP reported that 22 former international captains, including India's Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev and Australia's Greg and Ian Chappell, appealed to Shehbaz Sharif's government. Wasim Akram, another former Pakistan captain, also publicly called for Khan to receive fair treatment.
These interventions do not establish the political claims made by either side. But they demonstrate the unusual reach of the Khan question: his imprisonment has become an issue visible not only within Pakistani politics, but also within the international sporting community that knew him long before he entered politics.
Pakistan’s Unfinished Political Question
There is a larger historical backdrop to the present confrontation. No Pakistani prime minister has completed a full five-year constitutional term. Shehbaz Sharif is now in his second period as prime minister, having returned to office in March 2024 after the February election. If his government reaches the constitutional endpoint without an earlier interruption, it would mark an important break from Pakistan's political history. But the government is now confronting another major mobilisation centred on a former prime minister.
The federal government and the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government are also increasingly at odds. Meanwhile, Imran Khan remains imprisoned, his party remains politically active, and the military remains an unavoidable institution in understanding Pakistan's political system. The road to Islamabad is therefore about more than one protest.
It is another test of a political system that has repeatedly struggled to establish a stable relationship between elected governments, opposition movements and the country's most powerful institutions. For now, the outcome remains uncertain. The coming days will show whether this confrontation becomes another episode in Pakistan's long political cycle or something more consequential.
