In a key development, the Pakistan Police arrested key members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and sealed the capital city Islamabad ahead of ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan’s “Azadi March” on Wednesday. The police, under the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led government, raided the residences of the PTI leaders and workers and arrested senior leader Mian Mehmood-ur- Rasheed and several others on Tuesday night under section 16 of the Maintenance of the Public Order (MPO), ANI reported citing Geo news.
According to reports, the Sharif government rounded up more than 1,000 PTI members in a crackdown aimed to thwart the party’s preparations for a big power show in Islamabad. Meanwhile, the Punjab administration demanded the deployment of Rangers to control the law and order situation as Section 144 was imposed in several major cities of the country including Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi. The capital city of Islamabad has been cut off from the rest of the country, with a heavy deployment of security forces at every entry and exit point.
The govt zeroed in on two plans for the upcoming protest: Report
According to officials in the capital, the government has agreed on two alternatives: letting the PTI marchers enter Islamabad or intercepting them at entry points, the Dawn reported. It further stated that the PTI marchers would be allowed to enter Islamabad under the first plan, but they would not be allowed to cross Zero-Point. However, if the government decides to bar PTI leaders from entering, the second plan will be implemented leading to the closure of all entry ports, and the marchers will be halted on the Attock and Jhelum bridges.
Imran Khan calls for dissolution of National Assembly
Earlier, the PTI supremo stated that his party’s protest march to Islamabad will commence on May 25, calling for the dissolution of the National Assembly and the announcement of a date for the next general election. He also stressed that his party has always been peaceful in its protests and that the same would be followed in the upcoming march, warning that any wrongdoing against the peaceful protest march would result in legal action. Khan is rallying people at public rallies across the country to pressure the government into calling an early election. Notably, since his government’s ouster in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April, Khan has been mobilising people at public rallies across the country to pressure the government into calling an early election.