Various law enforcement agencies have started putting obstacles to lay a virtual siege to the garrison city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad, capital of Pakistan. These agencies are planning to seal it from 50 points to prevent Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) workers from entering the federal capital territory on November 24 (Sunday) for the “final call’’ rally.
The call for rally was given by party founder and former Prime Minister Imran Khan some days ago. It is being billed as a do-or-die rally and clashes with security forces all over the country are being predicted. Imran’s wife Bushra Bibi has said that those who mobilise masses for this rally will be getting party tickets in any and all future elections.
The police have started cracking down on local leaders and workers of Imran Khan’s PTI. They have rounded up dozens of them and the number is growing by the hour, according to reports in most Pakistani newspapers. All this is being done to prevent PTI from organising protest on Sunday that the party has already announced.
A senior police official said that for sealing of Rawalpindi, freight shipping containers, razors and barbed wires are being used. The district police, including Elite Force commandos, will be deployed and nobody will be allowed to stage any protest, he added.
The main showdown is expected to take place in Attock district — the border area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab. KP Chief Minister Aman Ali Gandapur, a hardcore Imran loyalist, is himself involved in mobilising people for protests being planned in Islamabad. “Extraordinary security measures will be taken to ensure peace in the city and nobody will be allowed to stage any protest and to take law into their own hand,” said a senior police official.
The police believe that protesters from different parts of the country would bring weapons to Islamabad. Incidentally, the PTI has staged multiple protests and carried out several rallies across the country in recent weeks against Imran’s imprisonment, amendments in the constitution and demanded fresh elections. The party has been claiming from the last several months that the February elections to National Assembly and provincial assemblies were heavily rigged against it.
It is an open secret that the Pakistan Army chief General Syed Asim Munir is aligned with the present government. As a natural corollary, he is against giving any concessions to Imran who had removed him as chief of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) some years ago. However, the problem for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is that his government is widely believed to be lacking legitimacy.
On Wednesday, the Federal government announced that Pakistan Rangers and Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel will be deployed in Islamabad from November 22 onwards. These personnel have been given instruction to deal with any law and order problems that may arise. The personnel of the two forces are being deployed under Sections 4 and 5 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
This is being interpreted as tactics meant to deter PTI supporters from participating in the protests.
Imran had issued a “final call’’ for the Sunday protest last week, denouncing what he described as the “stolen mandate”, the “unjust arrests” of people and the constitutional amendments a month ago.
Meanwhile, addressing reporters at the Peshwar Press Club, PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqqas Akram said: “We will exercise our fundamental rights. Nobody can take them away from us. Governments do not threaten or bully their citizens, thugs do.’’
He also expressed surprise at how, despite the resurgence of terrorism in the country, the state was putting more resources into quelling protests. “I am glad the interior ministry is giving security agencies more powers … but would it not be better for the state to apply those powers to actual threats to the country?’’
