Islamabad, September 17, 2026: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Salman Akram Raja said Thursday that he and several other party leaders were released after being detained for around four hours while travelling to Kotli Sattian to attend the funeral of PTI worker Ijaz Satti.
Earlier, PTI had claimed that Raja, Latasob Satti and others were taken into custody and transferred to Nilore Police Station in Islamabad. The party alleged that the detentions were aimed at preventing them from attending Satti’s funeral.
In a post on X, Raja said he, Latasob, his son Ikhlaq Satti and several others had been kept in detention for four hours before being released. He alleged that the sole purpose of the detention was to prevent them from attending the funeral.
Latasob Satti also shared a photograph of the group after their release.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan had earlier condemned Raja’s detention and claimed that around 700 party workers had been arrested in recent days, while arrest warrants had also been issued for members of the National and provincial assemblies. These figures were presented by Gohar as a party claim.
The detention came as PTI continues preparations for its nationwide protest scheduled for September 27. Party activities have intensified in recent days, while authorities in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and parts of Punjab have taken security and preventive measures.
The Punjab government has imposed a ban on gatherings across the province from September 13 to 17. District administrations have also issued preventive detention orders against a number of PTI workers under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order ordinance.
Meanwhile, the administrations of Islamabad and Rawalpindi have been preparing security arrangements ahead of the PTI’s announced march towards the capital, including deployment of additional personnel and placement of containers at key points.
On Wednesday, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited checkpoints in Attock linking Punjab with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to review security arrangements.
Earlier this week, KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi had alleged that he was detained by authorities during a visit to Lahore and later left by the roadside. The Punjab government denied that he had been arrested, while Wazirabad police said a man identified by Afridi as a would-be attacker was a police constable deployed for his security.
