Security beefed up in Pakistan ahead of protest by Imran Khan's party

Islamabad: Pakistan’s authorities sealed off the capital Islamabad on Friday to foil a planned protest by the Tehreek-i-Insaf of former premier Imran Khan to show solidarity with the judiciary and increase pressure to release the former prime minister from the jail.

The call for protest was given by a 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician who has been incarcerated at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi for more than a year.

He asked his followers to converge at the iconic D-Chowk of the capital to register a protest. It is the same venue where Khan held a sit-in for 126 days in 2014 against alleged rigging in the elections.

The government responded by imposing Section 144 in the city to outlaw all sorts of protests and gatherings and blocked all major entry points to the capital by putting shipping containers on the roads.

Pillion riding was also banned for two days and the Metro bus service between Islamabad and Rawalpindi was suspended.

Similar measures were also taken to stop protestors from entering Rawalpindi, which borders Islamabad, where section 144 was imposed and the main roads leading to the city were blocked. Also, all major intercity roads were blocked.

Police were deployed along with paramilitary Rangers to keep the peace and stop the protestors from crossing the hurdles put in place to seal the capital city.

Interior Minister Moshin Naqvi said that elaborate measures had been taken to control the protestors who would not be allowed to enter Islamabad and urged PTI to postpone its protest as the Malaysian prime minister was in the city while the government was preparing to hold the SCO summit on October 15-16.

“Those who get caught will not be shown any leniency,” Naqvi said, adding that it was unbecoming of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur to support such actions.

Gandapur has announced to lead the protest and reach the venue of protest by overcoming all blockades.

Meanwhile, Dawn reported quoting sources that Khan was conveyed a message through Chief Minister Gandapur to postpone the protest. However, the PTI founder responded that his party would put off the demo if the government agreed to postpone the constitutional amendments till October 25.

Chief Minister Gandapur conveyed this message to the powers that be but allegedly received no response.

On the other hand, the PTI seemed in no mood to back off, with Chief Minister Gandapur, who also heads the party’s KP chapter, all set to leave for Islamabad in the morning.

In a video statement, he vowed to reach Islamabad’s D-Chowk at any cost. “We will reach Islamabad according to the directions of Imran Khan despite violence and barricades erected to stop us,” he said.

Separately, dozens of PTI workers have been arrested in a crackdown on the party, claimed the party.