‘PTI marchers to be stopped from entering Red Zone’

Interior, defence ministers laud COAS for ‘turning down' PTI chief’s ‘offer of lifetime extension'

ISLAMABAD:

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Thursday said the PTI could stage its long march at the federal capital’s sectors H-9 and G-9 allocated by courts but its participants were restricted from entering the Red Zone, which would be protected by Rangers and Pak Army personnel.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad, the minister added that the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration had received the application about the PTI’s long march and it was reviewing it.

Sanaullah said the PTI had sought permission for public gatherings and a sit-in at a suitable place on November 4, 2022 and could be only allowed at places allocated by courts.

He added that in case of any unrest, the participants of the long march would be stopped at the entry points of Islamabad as the requisite number of personnel had been provided by Rangers, Frontier Corps as well as Sindh and Islamabad police for the security of the federal capital.

The minister made it clear that the participants would not be allowed to enter the Red Zone.

“Most of the buildings in the Red Zone are symbols of State and Article 245 has been also invoked. The personnel of Rangers and Pak Army would perform duty there,” he added.

Sanaullah hailed the apolitical role of the armed forces and their commitment to perform their role as per the law and Constitution of the country.

The minister also appreciated the stance of Chief of Army Staff General (COAS) Qamar Javed Bajwa, who “rejected” the offer of a "lifetime extension from PTI Chairman Imran Khan".

The minister alleged that the former premier and ARY News CEO Salman Iqbal were linked to the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif.

Arshad was shot dead by the Kenyan police in a case of “mistaken identity” while he was travelling to Nairobi from Magadi town on the night of October 23.

Later, a Kenyan police issued a statement expressing their “regrets on the unfortunate incident” and said it was being probed.

The 49-year-old journalist had fled the country this year to avoid arrest after he was slapped with multiple cases, including sedition charges over an interview with PTI leader Shahbaz Gill during which the latter had made controversial comments.

Alleging threats to his life, Arshad had moved to Dubai and later relocated to Nairobi in Kenya.

The interior minister said in hindsight, the incident pointed to two individuals, the deposed premier and Salman Iqbal, both of whom “played a role in sending Arshad abroad”.

The PTI chief recently admitted that he had advised Arshad to leave the country as his “life was in danger”.

Sanaullah maintained that the PTI-led Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government had issued a threat alert for Arshad’s life, adding that the journalist resided at a “disputed” farmhouse.

He further said that the ownership of the farmhouse would also be revealed before the nation in a day or two.

The minister claimed that Khurram Ahmed, the man driving the vehicle Arshad was travelling in, was an employee of ARY.

Khurram had “miraculously” survived the incident unharmed.

Sanaullah maintained that important information about Khurram and his brother Waqar Ahmed, who owned the Ammodump Kwenia Shooting Range, where Arshad had spent the better part of October 23, would also emerge in the next few days.

However, he emphasised that the involvement of anyone in the murder could not currently be ascertained.

Commenting on Imran, the minister said that the PTI chief had become a “national nuisance” after being exposed by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum at a news conference earlier in the day.

“The ISI DG’s press conference was a ‘shut-up call’ for Imran and his followers,” he maintained.

“If the army chief refuses to play a political role he is dubbed not up to par, but when he agrees with Imran then he is praised by him,” Sanaullah added.

Read 'Imran, Vawda to be probed in Sharif murder case'

The minister remarked that when Gen Qamar prioritised the institution over interests, he was called “Mir Jafar, Mir Sadiq, thief and traitor” by the PTI chief.

Sanaullah also said Imran would deem those working in his favour as “patriots”, and those going against him as “thieves, bandits and traitors”.

He added that the “extent of Imran’s politics of hatred and division of the nation” highlighted his “mental depravity”.

“Imran Khan has become a villain. Democracy cannot move forward because of his negative agenda,” he said.

He alleged that Imran had created the cipher “drama” in an effort to defeat the no-confidence motion against his government, but did not consider the “harm his games would cause to the people”.

Addressing a separate news conference in Islamabad, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said at one time, Imran was offering an "indefinite extension to the army chief" to protect his government from the no-confidence motion and this information had come "straight from the horse’s mouth".

“However when he [COAS] declined to take illegal and unconstitutional steps, he [Imran] started to cast aspersions on his integrity,” he added.

Asif maintained that when Imran was the prime minister, he crossed all limits to praise the military leadership to remain in power but after the no-confidence motion, he started maligning the institution.

“For Imran, his personal character is more important than Pakistan’s sovereignty and its institutions,” the minister claimed.

He said earlier the opposition was exposing his real face to the nation, but now it had been disclosed directly by the institution.

“The institution decided to remain neutral. However, Imran, instead of appreciating [it], made the word 'neutral' an abuse,” he added.

The defence minister said Imran was stopped from making the US cipher public during his rally but he created an issue of national security for the country for his personal interests.

He blamed Imran for destroying the credibility of Pakistan and its relations with the international community.

“They [PTI activists] made fun of our martyred 3-star general on social media,” the minister claimed and warned that the blood of martyrs was a red line for the State and nation.

He added that Imran had violated this red line and made "deliberate" attempts to create a division within an institution.

He asked the PTI chief whether or not he would appear before the commission formed to probe into the murder of Arshad Sharif as Imran had admitted it was him who advised the journalist to leave the country.

The minister said the K-P government had not shared the threat alert to Arshad with the federal government and this would be probed in the commission.