Marwat Predicts PTI Leaders’ Arrests During Long March, Rules Out Clash With Police

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Sher Afzal Khan Marwat has predicted that there will likely be no clash between PTI workers and police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the party’s long march, but political leaders could be arrested.

Speaking during a programme on Hum News, Marwat said the provincial government was no longer effectively in PTI’s hands, arguing that the imposition of Section 144 and the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) law would otherwise not have taken place.

He said he was praying for the success of the PTI long march because its participants were campaigning for the release of PTI founder Imran Khan, but he could not refrain from stating what he described as the ground reality.

According to Marwat, the long march had passed through 12 districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before reaching Peshawar. He claimed that only around 150 to 200 people were currently participating in the march, whereas a gathering of around 100,000 people should have emerged from the region.

He pointed out that the areas around Lakki Marwat, Tank, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Karak have a combined population of more than 10 million. He said that if the march had started with 100,000 participants from the region, it would have sent a strong political message.

Marwat criticised the PTI leadership for what he called a lack of preparation and strategy, saying the party had previously claimed it would bring millions of people onto the streets while its strategy kept changing.

He noted that the march was initially announced for September 27 but was later shifted to October 4. He claimed that when the participants reached Karak from Lakki Marwat, there were not even 200 people present.

Marwat said he believed there would be no confrontation between PTI workers and police, but political leaders could face arrests. He said containers had already been placed to stop former KP chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur and suggested that arrests of leaders, including Shaukat Yousafzai, were possible.

He further claimed that the provincial government was no longer fully in control, pointing to the imposition of Section 144 and the MPO law as evidence. He questioned how the provincial government could claim authority when such measures had been imposed within the province.

Discussing negotiations, Marwat said the real problem emerged when the PTI leadership realised that if the long march was withdrawn, it would be difficult for anyone to convince Imran Khan to launch another such movement. He questioned whether the former prime minister had called the march merely for his own medical treatment.

Meanwhile, PTI leader Shaukat Yousafzai said that a parallel government structure had effectively been established in the province. He claimed that meetings were being held at the Governor House with the inspector general and chief secretaries in attendance.

Yousafzai warned that Pakistan was already facing serious difficulties and that imposing governor’s rule or an emergency would push the country further into a deadlock.

He said the dispute was largely a matter of ego and stubbornness, adding that if some people had met Imran Khan on Tuesday, there would have been no harm in doing so.