PM sets stage for PTI ban

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday set the tone for banning the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), urging the civil and military leadership to devise a strategy to prevent a repeat of PTI's attempted invasion of Islamabad, which he said threatened the nation's hard-earned peace and macroeconomic stability.

"Pakistan's image has been tarnished all over. This has been the third to fourth invasion against the federal capital during the past eight months by the PTI. There was no concept of such unholy acts and designs before 2014. It started in 2014 with the 126-day long sit-in that damaged the economy and country's image," the prime minister said while addressing a high-level meeting he chaired on the law and order situation in the country.

The comments came a day after the Balochistan Assembly passed a resolution calling for banning the party for its "anti-Pakistan" actions. Likewise, a similar resolution landed in the Punjab Assembly on Friday.

The meeting was attended by members of the federal cabinet, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, Chief of the Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir, senior government officers and representatives of law enforcement agencies.

Calling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf as "Tehreek-e-Takhreeb" (Insurgency Movement), the prime minister censured its leadership for running over the federal capital repeatedly to sabotage the hard-earned peace, macroeconomic stability and revival of hefty foreign capital investments into the country.

"The country's economy again witnessed a major blow as according to a conservative estimate such protests cause Rs190 billion per day loss to the national economy. The impact on exports, imports, production, services, and private businesses is huge," Prime Minister Shehbaz said.

He reiterated that a mob from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) invaded the federal capital with all the public resources of K-P provincial government that unleashed gunshots on the law enforcement agencies, injured people and damaged infrastructure in the capital.

"If the country's enemies are determined to sabotage our peace and prosperity, should we simply lie down like lame ducks and let them destroy everything?" the prime minister asked. "This is the last thing we should even remotely imagine. We must make every effort to crush such hostile designs, as opportunities to safeguard the nation do not come twice."

The PM accused the PTI-led government in K-P of disregarding progress, including reducing inflation from 32% to below 7%, lowering the policy rate from 22% to 15%, and attracting investments from friendly nations. He alleged that PTI's focus was solely on rolling back these achievements.

"The federal government's senior leadership, the COAS, and his entire team are present here. Time and tide wait for none. PTI is not a political party but a group of abettors, saboteurs, and miscreants that must be held accountable under the law," he said. "It is our national duty to expose them; failing to do so will invite harsh judgment from history, and posterity will not forgive us."

Calling K-P a "beautiful" province with its people very brave, strong and patriots, he called for a focus on development initiatives for them.

He said the recent killings in Parachinar city of K-P was a clandestine move to damage the country's peace, but it was painful to see the K-P government's indifference to the situation.

He noted that the violence by PTI miscreants' clique in Islamabad resulted in the martyrdoms of a police and four Rangers personnel with dozens of police officers and constables injured.

The prime minister recalled that due to the PTI's 126-day sit-in in 2014, the Chinese President's visit was deferred and was rescheduled seven months later in April 2015, following myriads of efforts.

The prime minister also recalled the PTI's attempts to sabotage the SCO conference hosted by Islamabad and undermine the Pakistan-Saudi brotherly relations by baseless propaganda by the party leadership.

He said the PTI's latest protest failed to impact the Belarusian President's visit as the foreign dignitary successfully completed his three-day visit and also attended the luncheon reception hosted by Nawaz Sharif in Murree.

Mentioning his participation at the GHQ in the funeral prayers of the Rangers' personnel who were martyred while containing the saboteurs' violence, the prime minister expressed gratitude to Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, interior secretary, IG Islamabad Police, and LEAs, as well as the chief ministers of Sindh and Punjab for their support to the federal government to cope with the violence.

Meanwhile, the prime minister set up a task force under the chairmanship of Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi to identify the people involved in spreading chaos and violence in Islamabad earlier this week and take strict action against them.

Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar, Minister for Economic Affairs Division Ahad Khan Cheema, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, and representatives of the security forces will be members of the task force.

Chairing a high-level meeting to review the law and order situation, the prime minister also decided to set up a Federal Riot-Control Force to prevent future attempts to spread chaos and violence in the country.

The force will be equipped with professional training and necessary equipment, on the lines of international standards.

In addition, the meeting also decided to set up the Federal Forensic Lab in which modern technology will be used to investigate and collect evidence of such incidents.

It was also decided to modernise the Islamabad Safe City project, besides strengthening the federal prosecution service.