Shehbaz urges PTI to call off long march, warns of economic disruption

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asked the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to abandon its planned long march, cautioning that demonstrations and road blockades could hurt economic activity and weaken recent macroeconomic progress, according to Profit by Pakistan Today. At a ceremony marking the start of work on the Kashmir Chowk underpass in Islamabad, he said renewed agitation might affect imports, exports, and the mobility of workers and engineers.

He said the government had worked for two and a half years to restore macroeconomic stability and now wanted to move toward growth and development. He pointed to September gains across shipments abroad, IT exports and money sent home by overseas Pakistanis, and urged that moves capable of derailing the recovery be avoided. He again asked the party to reconsider and return to talks, while saying authorities would act to protect lives and property.

Salman Akram Raja, PTI's secretary general, said a day earlier that talks had collapsed over two matters: access to Imran Khan, who is in jail in Rawalpindi, and the federal government's handling of counterterrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He added that several points had been agreed, but progress remained incomplete while the two disputes stayed open.