ISLAMABAD – Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has warned Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against attempting to enter Islamabad by force, saying the party’s planned September 27 march could be its “last attempt” of this kind.
The PTI has announced a march on Islamabad for September 27, while federal ministers have repeatedly said the government will not allow protesters to enter the federal capital in violation of the law.
The warning came after PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa President Junaid Akbar said the party would “turn Islamabad into Somnath” if the government tried to stop its protest through force. Akbar made the remarks while addressing a gathering in Peshawar and warned that PTI workers would not remain silent if protesters were subjected to violence.
Speaking in an interview, Asif said the PTI was comparing Islamabad with Somnath, questioning whether the party also intended to repeat the historical episode associated with the temple.
“Islamabad is the capital of a major Islamic and nuclear state,” the defence minister said, adding that, God willing, the September 27 move would be the PTI’s last such attempt and that it would not be able to approach the capital in the same manner again.
Asif described the upcoming confrontation as potentially “decisive”, while also saying it was possible that PTI protesters might not turn up at all, which he said would itself be a decisive development.
“Neither the federation nor Pakistan can afford such things anymore,” he added.
The government has stepped up warnings ahead of the planned protest. Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry has said the government wants to resolve the matter through dialogue but would not allow an attempt to turn Islamabad into “Somnath”.
Meanwhile, former PTI leader Fauzia Kasuri criticised statements about attacking Islamabad in the name of protest. She said anyone talking about attacking the capital was not acting as a friend of Pakistan and suggested that such people should be sent across the border to Afghanistan.
Kasuri said political differences could not justify what she described as propaganda against the state and armed forces. She urged the PTI to focus on presenting policies and demonstrating their implementation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the party leads the provincial government.
The PTI, meanwhile, has maintained that its September 27 mobilisation is a political protest and has demanded the release of party founder Imran Khan.
