Two rounds of government–opposition talks chaired by NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq ended without agreement early on 4 October, and PTI said its march led by KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi would start from Lakki Marwat; the government said it would not be allowed into Islamabad.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said its long march towards Islamabad would start from Gandi Chowk in Lakki Marwat at 1pm on Sunday, 4 October 2026, led by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, after two rounds of talks between the federal government and the opposition ended in a deadlock in the early hours of the same day. The government said the march would not be allowed to enter Islamabad, but that the door to talks remained open.
The second round of talks began at Parliament House after 4pm on Saturday 3 October and ran for more than eight hours. Shortly before 3am on Sunday, Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, a member of the opposition delegation, told reporters the result was a “deadlock”. He said the issue of meetings with PTI founder Imran Khan could not be solved, and that the deadlock was over Imran’s meeting with his personal physicians and how to address terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Dawn; Business Recorder).
For the government, Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry said the talks failed primarily because the “KP government could not assure whether they would cooperate in the fight against terrorism in the future”, and that agreement had been reached on all other matters. Asked about the next step, he said the “Constitution has several options”, which Dawn described as seemingly a reference to the possibility of imposing governor’s rule or an emergency in KP (Dawn).
PPP Senator Sherry Rehman, part of the government side, told Geo News that “the draft [agreement] was changed four times after it was agreed upon” (Dawn). Earlier in the evening a member of the negotiating committee had said around 95 per cent of the issues had been agreed (Geo News).
According to Business Recorder, the opposition made withdrawal of the march conditional on a meeting with Imran Khan for National Assembly Opposition Leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas and Chief Minister Afridi, while the government insisted the march be called off first. Achakzai told the negotiating team by telephone that the march could not be withdrawn before a meeting with Imran Khan (Business Recorder).
PTI interim chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said the long march was “intact” and would go ahead, that imposing an emergency or governor’s rule was not the answer to the protest, and that no date had been agreed for another round of talks (Dawn).
National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq chaired both rounds. The government side included Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry, Minister for States and Frontier Regions Amir Muqam, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah, with the PPP’s Sherry Rehman, Syed Naveed Qamar and Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani (Dawn; Geo News).
The opposition delegation comprised Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, PTI interim chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Opposition Chief Whip Amir Dogar, MNA Asad Qaiser, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja and PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh (Dawn).
Imran Khan, PTI’s founder and a former prime minister, is in jail. On 20 December 2025 a court sentenced him and his wife Bushra Bibi to 17 years each in the Toshakhana-2 case (Dawn). The PTI says the march is against what it calls his “illegal imprisonment”; sources on both sides told Dawn that the PTI wants him shifted from jail to a hospital for treatment, while the government wants the march called off (Dawn). PTI interim chairman Gohar Ali Khan said the opposition’s demands in the second round were “simple” and included meetings with Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi (Dawn).
The PTI governs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Sohail Afridi was elected chief minister on 13 October 2025 (Dawn). Before the talks, federal ministers had warned that the Centre would have no option but to impose governor’s rule or an emergency in the province, citing its security situation and the protest call; the PTI warned of dire consequences if that happened (Dawn). For the wider political record, see the political record, 2024–2026 and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province page.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, whose PPP is an ally of the PML-N government, said in Karachi on 3 October: “In my opinion, the federal government had made up its mind and was 100 per cent ready; they wanted to immediately impose emergency or governor’s rule in KP.” He said the PPP’s view was that “before dropping this constitutional atomic bomb, political parties should absolutely find a political solution to fight terrorism in a better way”, and called for a written agreement between the federal and KP governments on how they would fight terrorism together (Dawn; The News).
On 4 October Chief Minister Afridi shared the PTI’s draft of demands, and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on X that the KP government had backed out of security-related commitments in the final phase of the negotiations, including signing a written agreement and submitting an implementation plan within 72 hours (Express Tribune).
On 3 October Afridi said the Constitution grants the right to peaceful protest and that the party would “neither allow May 9 to happen again nor allow anyone else to repeat it”. Tallal Chaudhry said Afridi’s statements could affect the ongoing negotiation process and urged PTI leaders to refrain from such statements until the final stage of the talks (Dawn).
Under the itinerary Afridi posted on X, the convoy was to halt near Karak on the night of 4 October and near Kohat on 5 October. On 6 October supporters from Kohat, Hangu, Kurram and Orakzai were to join and the convoy was to move towards Peshawar, halting near Mattani; it was to leave Budh Bair in Peshawar on 7 October and halt near Charsadda Interchange, then leave on 8 October for Khairabad, where people from across the province were to gather and the plan for the next phase was to be announced (Dawn).
Rana Sanaullah said the government remained willing to resume talks if the PTI and the KP government were prepared to cooperate in the fight against terrorism: “If they are ready to play their role in the fight against terrorism, they can come today, tomorrow or the day after”. No time had been set for another round, and he said different options remained on the table depending on the circumstances (Geo News). Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also invited Opposition Leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai for dialogue (Dawn).
No emergency or governor’s rule had been imposed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when this article was published. This article reflects reports available by 2:30pm Pakistan time on 4 October 2026.
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