There would be “absolutely” no negotiations moving forward with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Tuesday as former prime minister Imran Khan’s supporters reached Islamabad.
“Negotiations are held with peaceful people, with Pakistani citizens, not with Afghans or extremists,” he told reporters in Islamabad. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar accompanied him.
Naqvi claimed that everyone had seen the level of peace in the protests, indicating that there was an attempt to incite violence. He emphasised that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed that the area must be kept clear.
He stated that a “clear decision” was made in a meeting with the prime minister that no discussions would take place. Without naming Bushra Bibi, Naqvi attributed the damages incurred over the past two days to one woman, claiming that they use the children of the poor as shields.
Information Minister Tarar stated that “shooting is a very easy task; just fire a shot and everything will clear up.” He criticised protestors for using the children of the poor as “shields” and suggested that a specific individual named Qasim should take the forefront in their actions.
He accused the PTI of bringing Afghan citizens, terrorists and criminals to the so-called final call of their leader which was taken out to destroy the peace of the country.
The minister condemned the alleged participation of foreign nationals, terrorists and criminals in the protest and claimed that he had the evidence in this regard.
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He said he had checked the record of some miscreants who were arrested from the D-Chowk by the police and “ironically” one of them was brought to the protest on daily wages from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while the others were Afghan citizens and professional criminals who were found involved in dacoity in Islamabad.
The minister asked whether any party’s manifesto allowed to give membership to an Afghan citizen or any other national, adding the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had no such tradition.
“This is not a peaceful protest,” he said while addressing the international media who, according to the minister, are “trying to portray that the government is coming down hard on the peaceful protestors.”
