Imran Khan's party postpones planned Islamabad march to October 4

Sept 25 (Reuters) - Jailed ‌former prime ​minister ​Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has postponed a planned long march from Peshawar to Islamabad ‌until October 4, the chief minister of the ⁠PTI-ruled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Sohail Afridi, told reporters on Friday.

• PTI ‌had planned to begin ‌the march on September 27 to press for the release of Khan, who has been in jail ​since 2023. The PTI's last large-scale protest two years ago ended in deadly clashes with security ⁠forces.

• Earlier this week, Pakistan curbed access to its capital, Islamabad, by ​blocking major highways with shipping containers and deploying tens of thousands of security forces, ahead ​of the march planned by ‌Khan's supporters.

• Party spokesperson Zulfi Bukhari, however, told Reuters that although they had moved ⁠the planned date to October 4, they could launch the march earlier.

• "We can now do it whenever we deem fit. ⁠The question is to the government, as to how long they're ​willing to keep the country closed off?", Bukhari said.

• Authorities have detained three of Khan's sisters and hundreds of party activists ‌in recent days, citing a need to maintain public order.

• Khan, 73, a ‌former cricket star ousted by parliament in a 2022 ⁠no-confidence vote, has claimed ‌to be a ​political prisoner.

(Reporting by Islamabad bureau; Writing by Kanjyik Ghosh; Editing by Toby Chopra and Louise ‌Heavens)

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