The interior ministry has decided to call in additional troops of Rangers, Frontier Corps and law enforcement agencies from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab to assist the capital city administration in ensuring order as political parties gather for power shows ahead of the day of the no-trust vote against Prime Minister Imran Khan in the National Assembly.
The united opposition has announced their decision to hold a protest named ‘end inflation’ in Islamabad from Saturday (today) to Monday as part of its efforts to oust the PTI-led government. It is pertinent to mention that the PPP has not clearly confirmed their participation in the protest, which is being branded by the PML-N and JUI-F. The Sindh ruling party had earlier started a protest march from Karachi to Islamabad with the same objective.
Such a decision was taken in reaction to the PTI’s call of staging “a massive rally of one million people” in Islamabad. The ruling party has claimed that it would force the dissident party leaders to rethink their apparent decision to vote against the premier in the lower house of parliament.
The interior ministry, which has already warned the political parties against creating any instability, on Friday held a meeting to review the security arrangements in Islamabad.
In a tweet on late Friday, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid the administration should ensure that the political parties hold their meetings at the designated places.
“It has been decided to bring additional personnel from Punjab and KP to assist the Islamabad Police. It has also been decided to call in additional Rangers and FC personnel to ensure law and order,” Rashid said, adding that a control room has also been set up in the interior ministry for the security of political rallies.
The capital city administration and senior police officials of twin cities, including the home secretary, had attended the meeting. The interior minister said that the political parties’ gatherings should not hinder the movement of citizens.
According to Rashid, the government has already called deployed 15,000 security personnel – including 2,000 Rangers and FC personnel – in Islamabad to ensure order. Such a need came after the Islamabad Police operation in the Parliament Lodges where dozens of JUI-F volunteer workers – Ansarul Islam – and two MNAs were arrested; prompting the KP based political party to take streets. However, such a call was taken back when the workers and lawmakers were released.
Moreover, the PTI workers’ storming the Sindh House in parliament, Islamabad was another such incident. It also prompted Rashid to deploy Rangers and FC at such places.
Politicians from both sides of the aisle and experts have lamented that the no-confidence motion and its subsequent reaction pertaining to dissidents have raised the political temperatures. In addition to this social media, users have termed the exchanged harsh words between leaders “a new low” in the country’s politics.
