PTI sit-in: 22,000 cops being recalled for reinforcement

Police, containers back to guard capital

ISLAMABAD:

Around 22,000 law enforcement officials from various cities have been recalled and containers will be placed at key points to counter the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) call for a public gathering on November 30. The move comes after the expiry of the presidential ordinance under which the army was deployed to guard key installations in the capital. The boots are now marching back to the barracks.

Senior Superintendent of Islamabad Police (SSP) Operations Asmatullah Junejo said that around 22,000 Rangers, Frontier Constabulary (FC), Punjab and Azad Kashmir police personnel have been recalled and around 100 containers will be placed at 72 key points in an effort to keep the Red Zone secure. “The Red Zone and the [Islamabad] Expressway are of prime importance and will be secured,” he said.



The SSP said that the reinforcements will be deployed before November 28, adding that the riot control officials have also been recalled as they were given special training before the PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) rallies in August. “Rangers and FC have already arrived in the capital,” he added.

A senior police official, requesting anonymity, revealed that the Margalla area needed to be swept as several suspects were detained based on information provided by security agencies. When asked if pillion riding will be banned and mobile service suspended, the official said both items came up in a meeting with the interior minister, who opposed them. “The interior minister was meticulous in the preparation for the rally day. He doesn’t like public suffering.”

Besides the deployment of law enforcement officials, the government is also busy devising a counterstrategy that would use a presidential ordinance to bar protesters from setting foot inside the Red Zone.

The draft of the ordinance –-- The Establishment and Regulation of High Security Zone, 2014 –-- is being given the final touches at the Law Ministry, but police officials felt it was unlikely to be expressed that it was unlikely to be in force before the rally date. “I don’t expect it to get promulgated before November 30,” said one official.

Islamabad Chief Commissioner Zulfiqar Haider said that army’s deployment was federal government’s domain and only they could answer questions relating to the presences of armed forces in the capital. “I can only confirm things that are on record.” Haider said that the administration has not yet received any application from any party seeking permission to hold a rally in the capital.

Later in the evening, the Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar clarified that troops deployed at key installations were withdrawn as there was no threat to high-security buildings anymore. In a press conference, the minister said that the authority to call in or withdraw the army lies with the interior ministry and the armed forces can be called in for the protection of the buildings on the shortest notice.

Commenting on Nov 30 rally, Nisar said that the government would not create hindrances for a peaceful rally, but warned that the law would take its course if the protesters resorted to any violence.

He noted that the PTI must take permission from the city administration to hold the rally.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 20^th, 2014.