PTI KP puts worker safety ahead of immediate protests
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter said on Monday that it did not call for immediate street protests after the proclamation of emergency and the imposition of governor’s rule in the province, arguing that the priority was to protect party workers from harm.
Provincial general secretary Ali Asghar Khan said in a statement issued in Peshawar that keeping workers safe was the party’s responsibility. He stressed that withholding an immediate protest call did not mean the party was quitting the political struggle.
Why the party says it is waiting
Mr Khan said peaceful protest remained a right, but its timing and form should be set under a joint strategy decided at the national level. He was responding to questions raised after emergency and governor’s rule were imposed in KP.
According to him, consultations with provincial, regional and district organisations, the Insaf Lawyers Forum, assembly members and workers produced suggestions on the future political course. He said he was sharing those points so workers understood the situation, the decisions taken and the reasons behind them.
During those talks, he said, the preference was to protest at a suitable time with a clear plan rather than rush into immediate action. The aim, he said, was to shield workers from further arrests and violence, and to keep the party from provocations or incidents that could be misrepresented and blamed on workers.
Bara protest and call for organised action
Mr Khan pointed to a protest in Bara, in the Khyber tribal district, where several PTI workers were wounded in police firing. After that, he said, workers and assembly members who sought protests were told to wait for party orders and not react at once.
He said unorganised and individual protests should be avoided until a formal programme was announced, and that a peaceful, organised struggle at the national level was necessary.
He listed the party’s stated objectives as the release of former prime minister Imran Khan and all political prisoners; an end to governor’s rule and emergency; restoration of the elected provincial government; protection of constitutional rights and the public mandate; and protection of ownership rights and KP’s rightful share of natural resources and minerals.
All-party talks and a November deadline
Mr Khan said the central leadership was in contact with other parties on shared constitutional and democratic goals. In that light, the provincial organisation favoured calling an all-party conference as soon as possible to agree a joint political and constitutional line.
Meanwhile, he said, the party should pursue legal and parliamentary steps, talk to other parties, lawyers, professional groups and civil society, and raise constitutional and human-rights concerns in the media and on relevant international forums.
The KP provincial organisation, he said, believes the central leadership should issue clear instructions on the national line of action by the end of the first week of November 2026, setting priorities for political, legal, parliamentary and public work.
Provincial deputy secretary of information Ikram Khattana said PTI workers were not armed at protest rallies, while those stopping the protests had guns and, in his words, would have killed party workers. “We don’t want PTI workers to be harmed,” he said.
Aasan alfaaz mein
PTI KP ne emergency aur governor’s rule ke baad foran protest nahi kiye. Party ka kehna hai ke workers ki hifazat pehle hai, khas tor par Bara mein police firing ke baad. Ab woh qomi level par mil kar strategy banane ki baat kar rahe hain. Pehle haftay November 2026 tak markazi leadership se wazeh hidayaat maangi gayi hain.
