Caretaker Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said that he had issued strict orders for all arrested workers of the Pashtun Tahaffz Movement to be released.

In a post on X, Bugti said that the orders applied to Lahore, Peshawar and other cities.

He also said that negotiations with PTM’s leadership on Thursday night had been ‘successful’ and the movement had agreed to shift its rally in Islamabad from infront of the Supreme Court to Tarnol, at the edge of the city.

The PTM had announced a long march to Islamabad on August 18 against the resurgence of terrorism in the former tribal areas and for release of arrested people belonging to the movement. The PTM had planned to hold a rally infront of the Supreme Court which has now been shifted.

Early on Friday, PTM leader Manzaoor Pashteen had claimed that over 1,000 workers had been arrested in different parts of the country as they made their way towards Islamabad.