PTI foundation day: City braces for another rally

Administration deploys 10,000 security personnel ahead of gathering

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad administration on Saturday finalised security arrangements for a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rally to marking its foundation day, today (Sunday). Over 10,000 security personnel will perform their duties, said a police official.

The party will celebrate its founder’s day at F-9 park, where party chief Imran Khan will address workers.

Following the go-ahead from the government, the administration has finalised security arrangements and over 10,000 security personnel including officials from the capital, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Frontier Constabulary will perform their duties, Senior Superintendent of Police SSP (Operations) Sajid Kiani told The Express Tribune.

Under the security plan, police will be deputed in and around the venue besides being deployed at all the points from where participants are expected to enter the city. Similarly, Rangers will assist the police while army will be called in to ward off any untoward incident. Leaves of police officials have already been cancelled. According to the plan, four to six walk-through gates would be installed where the participants are bound to enter from.

The administration has also established a control room at F-9 Park which will be supervised by Additional Deputy Commissioner (East) Abdus Sattar Essani. Newly-appointed Inspector General of Police (IGP) Yasin Farooq along with including Deputy Commissioner Cap (retd) Mushtaq Ahmed, Additional Deputy Commissioner (East) Abdus Sattar Essani, SSP (Operations) Sajid Kiani, Senior Superintendent of Police (SP) City Rizwan Gondal, Senior Superintendent of police Special Investigation Unit SIU, Cap (retd) Ilyas Ahmed visited the site and reviewed the security situation on Saturday.

Talking to the media, IGP Farooq said that working on the directions of the interior minister police will provide foolproof security to the participants. However, if the participants of the rally try to violate the code of conduct, agreed between the party and the administration, the police will take action against them. He said that the police will not allow the participants to move to any other place except F-9 park.

Earlier, the PTI local representatives and Islamabad administration signed a code of conduct in which PTI leadership assured of a peaceful really. Moreover, if any incident takes place, the organisers of the party will be held responsible, explained Deputy Commissioner, Cap (retd) Mushtaq Ahmed.

There had been a controversy regarding permission for the PTI to hold a rally at F-9 Park, as the Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had categorically refused to allow the party to hold a public gathering at the venue.

During a press conference on April 11, he had maintained that no public gathering would be allowed at D-Chowk or F-9 Park.

He was of the view that Fatima Jinnah Park was situated in the heart of federal capital and is a recreational facility for citizens which is not meant for political demonstration.

He had advised political parties to hold political gathering in some other city, rather than Islamabad.

However, on April 16, Nisar gave a green signal to the PTI to hold a political gathering at the venue. He also ordered the ICT administration to settle all matters in this context with the local party leadership. Moreover, the minister also ordered that no hurdle should be raised in convening the demonstration.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2016.