By Asghar Ali Mubarak
Islamabad: The Islamabad district administration on Monday refused to give permission to both the federal government and the opposition to hold political rallies in the capital’s Red Zone on March 27 in the wake of no-trust move against the prime minister.
As per sources, the administration has given permission to the ruling PTI to organise its rally at Parade Ground and asked the opposition parties to use Sector H-9 as their venue for theirs.
The ICT administration is of the opinion that since both the government and the opposition were seeking the same venue, there was a possibility of a clash between the participants. It also said that holding rallies in the Red Zone would also create security concerns.
The ruling party has now requested the deputy commissioner to allow its rally to take place at the Parade Ground in Islamabad.
Earlier, the PTI had announced that it would hold a “massive power show” at Islamabad’s D-Chowk on March 27 and pull out one million people to the streets to “express confidence in their leader [PM Imran Khan]”.
The ruling party is expected to give a plan of action on opposition’s no-confidence motion, which it believes would fail. Ali Nawaz Awan, tweeted that the premier had assigned them the task of gathering one million PTI activists and supporters for the party’s ‘grand power show’. “The prime minister, as always, is determined to overcome this crisis,” he added. To counter government’s move, the anti-government alliance – Pakistan Democratic Movement – as well as other opposition parties had announced a joint public meeting at the Constitution Avenue in Islamabad on March 23 for which the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Awami National Party have also been invited.
The date was later changed to March 25 owing to OIC conference and Pakistan Day Parade in the federal capital.
Meanwhile, The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Monday changed the venue of its planned March 27 power show in Islamabad from D-Chowk to Parade Ground, hours after Islamabad Inspector General of Police (IGP) Qazi Jamilur Rehman told the Supreme Court that section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure — already in force in the capital — had been broadened to include the Red Zone area.
In a tweet, the PTI said that “the Parade Ground will be more suitable to accommodate the number of people that are expected to participate in the rally.”
Earlier, PTI Senator Faisal Javed Khan, too, had tweeted that the D-Chowk would prove to be a “small venue” for what what he described would be the “biggest rally in the history of Pakistan”.
Prior to the imposition of Section 144 (power to issue order absolute at once in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger), the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday had also ruled against holding any political gathering in Red Zone which houses important government institutions including the Parliament House, Supreme Court, Presidency and the Prime Minister Office.
Last week, a group of PTI activists attacked the Sindh House, where dissident leaders of the party were staying.
The Supreme Court Bar Association had subsequently filed a petition in the top court demanding officials, tasked with the responsibility to maintain law and order in Islamabad, to “prevent any assembly, gathering, public meetings and/or processions that could hamper the assembly proceedings or participation of members in the session”.
In the SC hearing on the petition today, Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan said: “After talking to the prime minister, I would like to clarify something to the court that there will be no crowd outside the assembly during the session. No [lawmaker] will be stopped by crowds.”
The AGP also told the court that police and relevant agencies had been issued orders to not allow the public to enter the Red Zone during the NA session.
