PTI shifts August 5 Peshawar rally to Motorway ground

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has shifted its August 5 public rally from the Imran Khan Cricket Stadium in Peshawar to an open ground near the motorway following criticism over the original venue, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi announced on Friday.

Addressing a joint parliamentary meeting of PTI members of the National Assembly, Provincial Assembly and Senate at the Chief Minister’s House, Afridi described the gathering as the semi-final of the party’s campaign for the release of PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan. He said the rally would not be an ordinary political event but a decisive stage during which the party’s future strategy would be presented to the nation.

The meeting reviewed preparations for the August 5 rally in detail, with elected representatives assigned various organisational responsibilities.

Afridi said that since assuming office on October 15, 2025, the provincial government had pursued every constitutional, legal and democratic avenue to resolve political issues through dialogue and reconciliation. He added that PTI’s central leadership had also sought negotiated solutions, but alleged that these efforts received no positive response from the opposing side.

The chief minister said he had approached both the Islamabad High Court and the Supreme Court in an effort to secure a meeting with Imran, and had also raised the matter before the chief justice at a public event, maintaining that, as chief minister, meeting his party leader was his constitutional and legal right.

He said it was the provincial government’s responsibility to implement policies in line with Imran’s vision, arguing that the people had voted for the current leadership in his name. Ignoring the public mandate given to Imran, he said, amounted to disregarding the will of nearly 45 million people in K-P.

CM Afridi also expressed concern over Imran’s health, demanding that his family members, sisters and personal physicians be allowed to meet him and that he be provided with the best available medical care. He described Imran as a national asset and the country’s most popular political leader.

Referring to the allegations against PTI over the May 9 attacks on military installations, Afridi reiterated the party’s demand for an impartial and transparent investigation to establish the facts. He said Imran had consistently maintained that the army is mine, and the country is mine, while PTI had responded to criticism through political and democratic means.

The chief minister said that after exhausting all constitutional and legal options, peaceful protest remained the party’s final democratic course of action, adding that the Constitution guaranteed every citizen the right to peaceful assembly.

He said the August 5 rally would mark a decisive phase of the movement and would be followed by the next stage of PTI’s political campaign.

Afridi also announced that, after consultations with parliamentary members, the venue had been shifted from Imran Khan Cricket Stadium to a spacious open ground near the Peshawar Motorway to facilitate the public, ensure smooth traffic flow and provide easier access for party workers travelling from other districts.