Khawaja Asif warns PTI: ‘Last attempt’ for Islamabad March

Speaking in an interview from New York, where he is accompanying Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s delegation to the United Nations General Assembly

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has warned Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against attempting another march on Islamabad, saying the party’s planned September 27 protest could mark a decisive confrontation.

Speaking in an interview from New York, where he is accompanying Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s delegation to the United Nations General Assembly, Asif responded to PTI leaders’ recent references to Islamabad as “Somnath.”

The defence minister said Islamabad was the capital of Pakistan and argued that the country could not afford repeated confrontations of this nature. He said the upcoming episode could be the PTI’s final attempt to move towards the federal capital.

“Now it will be a decisive battle,” Asif said, adding that it was also possible that PTI supporters might not turn up in the numbers expected, which he described as another potentially decisive factor.

The PTI has announced plans for a march on Islamabad on September 27, while federal government representatives have said the protesters would not be permitted to enter the capital.

The political tensions intensified after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi warned that any attempt to obstruct the PTI’s protest would face resistance from party workers and supporters.

PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Junaid Akbar had also used the reference to Somnath while warning of a strong response if the government attempted to stop the protest.

Meanwhile, former PTI leader Fawzia Kasuri criticised rhetoric about attacking Islamabad, saying that anyone advocating such action during a protest was acting against Pakistan’s interests.

Kasuri said political parties should focus on presenting policies and governing effectively rather than engaging in confrontation with state institutions. She also pointed to the PTI-led provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, arguing that the party should demonstrate its policies through governance there.

The exchange of statements comes amid heightened political tensions ahead of the PTI’s announced Islamabad protest, with both sides issuing increasingly firm warnings over the planned mobilisation.