Imran Khan Supporters March on Islamabad as Health Concerns Mount

Thousands of backers of imprisoned former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan are making their way toward Islamabad, pressing for his freedom as worries about his physical condition intensify. A procession that set off from Lakki Marwat, a settlement roughly 275km from the capital, halted overnight and was due to restart around midday local time on Monday, according to organisers.

Roughly 5,000 demonstrators turned out on Sunday, waving the red-and-green banners of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, the BBC reported. The event had originally been planned for the previous week but was pushed back so that government representatives and PTI officials could hold discussions — talks that ultimately collapsed without agreement.

Khan, a former cricket captain who led Pakistan from 2018 until 2022, has been behind bars since August 2023 and is confronting legal proceedings in more than 100 cases. Last year he was handed a 17-year sentence in a corruption case. He maintains that every charge against him is politically driven, an allegation the authorities reject.

At 73, Khan's wellbeing has become a central rallying point for his supporters and relatives. His family says he has lost the majority of the sight in his right eye after prison officials allegedly neglected to act on his complaints. The claim has added urgency to long-running demands from PTI that he receive proper medical attention.

Sohail Afridi, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which is governed by PTI, said he expected the march to arrive at a town roughly 80km (50 miles) west of Islamabad by Thursday. "By then this movement will have reached every corner of the country and every square will have become a centre of activity," he was quoted as saying on Sunday, while calling on people to take an active part in political life.

In preparation for the approaching crowds, authorities in Islamabad have placed shipping containers across major roads leading into the city in an effort to seal off access. The move mirrors tactics used during earlier PTI mobilisations, when security forces erected similar barriers and restricted movement around the capital.

The PTI has blamed the breakdown of talks on the government's refusal to let party leaders meet Khan so they could seek his guidance on national and political matters. The party added that it had also pressed for him to be given an immediate medical examination and treatment, requests it says were not met.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi countered by accusing Afridi of undermining the negotiations, alleging that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administration had reneged on earlier commitments related to counter-terrorism, according to local media accounts cited by the BBC. The mutual recriminations have left little prospect of a quick return to dialogue.

This is not the first time Khan's health has prompted intervention. In August, he was moved briefly from prison to a state-run hospital for examination and treatment following complaints that his condition was deteriorating. Doctors subsequently declared him "medically fit" — a conclusion his family and party rejected, criticising the authorities for ignoring a court directive that he be seen by physicians at a named private hospital.

The transfer was described as the most meaningful relief Khan has obtained from the courts since his imprisonment in 2023 on corruption charges, which he insists were brought for political reasons. His wife, Bushra Bibi, was jailed alongside him last year.

Pressure on Khan's inner circle has also grown. On 20 September, his sister Aleema Khanum was detained in the eastern city of Lahore. The arrest order alleged that she had been mobilising people to "create law and order situations" and had raised or chanted objectionable slogans against the government among the public — accusations her supporters dismiss as an attempt to silence the family.

Even while incarcerated, Khan remains a potent figure in Pakistani politics, and rallies staged on his behalf have previously descended into deadly violence and heavy-handed crackdowns. His detention in May 2023 triggered large-scale unrest in which supporters ransacked the corps commander's residence in Lahore, making off with furniture, paintings, chandeliers and even peacocks. At least eight people died, and the army had to be deployed to restore order.

The intensity of feeling around Khan has drawn appeals from beyond Pakistan's borders. Several former international cricket captains have in recent months publicly urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to ensure Khan is given appropriate medical care, underscoring how the case has resonated internationally as well as domestically.

For the government, the march represents a delicate test: allowing it to proceed risks a large opposition show of strength in the capital, while blocking it could inflame supporters and revive the kind of confrontations that have turned deadly before. For PTI, the coming days offer a chance to demonstrate that its support base remains mobilised despite the leadership being largely behind bars.

Much now depends on whether the procession can maintain momentum over the roughly 275km route and whether the container walls ringing Islamabad hold. If the marchers reach the edge of the capital by Thursday as predicted, Pakistan will face another volatile standoff over the fate of its most prominent jailed politician.