K-P govt decides to book local PDM leaders for holding Peshawar rally

Kamran Bangash says Covid-19 cases increased after the rally; letter issued to police to register a case

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government on Sunday asked the police to register a case against the local leadership of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for holding the November 22 rally despite Peshawar administration's refusal to grant them permission for it due to an exponential rise in coronavirus cases.

Sounding the alarm on the rising number of novel coronavirus cases, the provincial government had earlier warned the opposition alliance that they may lodge cases against them if a spike in virus cases was witnessed in the province after the rally.

Special Assistant to K-P Chief Minister on Information Kamran Bangash told The Express Tribune that Covid-19 cases had increased after the PDM’s rally.

“Even PDM leaders have contracted the virus,” Bangash said in reference to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Awami National Party's Samar Bilour testing positive days after the rally.

“The government had stopped the PDM from holding rallies... the rallies are the reason for the increase in Covid-19,” he added.

Bangash stated that the K-P government has sent a letter to the police to book five PDM leaders in the case.

The warning for lodging cases against the PDM leadership, if virus cases were to increase after the rally, was conveyed by K-P Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra and Bangash on November 21 as they called upon the PDM to cancel their public rally.

Addressing a joint news conference, Jhagra had insisted that it was in the larger public interest to not hold such gatherings, to avoid the virus from spreading with a second wave of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) firmly gripping the country and the National Command Operation Center (NCOC) imposing a ban on large public gatherings.

Despite the warning and K-P government's refusal to grant permission, the PDM held its power show in Peshawar.