Web Desk (LTN NEWS): Government of Islamabad has started making security plans in case the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which wants early elections, holds a protest march or sit-in.
Shipping containers have been used to block off the red zone in the federal capital.
Overnight, barbed wire and shipping containers were put up to make it hard to get to the famous D-Chowk.
More police have been sent to the entrances and exits of the federal capital.
To deal with a possible emergency, the police in Islamabad has asked for 30,000 police, paratroopers, and FC force members from the provinces. This includes 20,000 from Punjab, 4,000 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 6,000 Rangers and FC force members.
Punjab and KP provincial governments haven’t decided yet how to respond to Islamabad’s request.
City government plans to dig trenches and put hundreds of containers at the entrances of Islamabad to stop PTI supporters from getting into the federal capital. The police in Islamabad said it was the PTI’s fourth protest sit-in.
Sources say that more teargas shells and drones that can throw teargas shells have been asked for.
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At least 3,000 FC staff members have already arrived in Islamabad.
A statement from the police spokesperson in Islamabad says, “Some people from Punjab have gone to the federal capital to get their political demands met.”
Spokesperson said that security has been stepped up around the red zone in case something goes wrong.
It said that Section 144 had been put in place in Islamabad and that anyone who broke it would be punished according to the law.
Imran Khan told party leaders from the KP earlier this month to start getting ready for a long march in Islamabad. He also told party workers to wait for the Islamabad call, since it had already been decided to go to the federal capital.
“More time can’t be given to the imported government,” he said.
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Imran Khan told the government earlier this month to stop “persecuting” his party members or he would march again on Islamabad.
He said that if he came to Islamabad, the government would have “no place to hide.”
Imran criticized the way the government was handling the problems with the economy at a public meeting in Gujrat. He said, “The PTI government was also in the IMF program, but our government was in charge of setting prices.”
“I was accused of selling the country to the IMF when the PTI was in power,” he said. “However, inflation has risen to 45% today. Now, we want to know why gasoline costs so much. They say they did it because the IMF told them to.”
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Imran Khan also criticized the leaders of the PDM. He said that those who protested against the PTI government because of inflation “have come to power not to stop inflation but to end their cases.”
“The match has reached a critical point,” the head of the PTI said. “No matter what the PDM does, it can’t win this match.”
