ISLAMABAD: Amid rising tensions between Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the government, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday accused the PTI of “direct firing” on civilians during its “Do or Die” protest in Islamabad. I denied the allegations, which were abruptly dropped. Closed after crackdown.
Briefing members of the diplomatic corps on the current situation after the PTI protest, Dar – who is also the Deputy Prime Minister – said the government showed restraint as the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) used only water cannon and tear gas. were armed with, not ammunition. .
A much-publicized protest by the former ruling party in Islamabad, aimed at securing the release of PTI founder Imran Khan, who has been behind bars for more than a year, came after the government’s midnight crackdown on protesters. The crackdown resulted in PTI’s hasty retreat.
The party founded by Imran Khan has since claimed that at least 12 of its workers have been killed and 1,000 arrested. However, the government has categorically denied using live ammunition against the protesters and said that four law enforcement personnel, including three Rangers personnel and a policeman, were martyred during the protests.
While briefing foreign diplomats, Dar said police and Rangers were deployed in the first two tiers, while the army was deployed as the third line of defense to protect the diplomatic enclave, Parliament House and other important buildings. .
He added that the government has enacted a new law, the “Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act, 2024”, which bans protests in the red zone and requires a magistrate’s permission for any public gathering.
Explaining why the government took some steps against the protesters, he said that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had restrained the PTI from holding any protest gathering in the red zone area of the federal capital.
In compliance with the court verdict, the government had tasked Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to join the party but to no avail.
He said that the federal government has always prioritized the security of the red zone, which houses the Parliament House, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, federal institutions and diplomatic corps.
Dar told the diplomats that the PTI had chosen to hold the protest on November 24, which coincided with the scheduled visit of the Belarusian president.
He added that this was in line with the party’s past “bad practice” of scheduling protests on key dates, such as the SCO summit earlier this year and in 2014, when their protests Due to this, the visit of the Chinese President was postponed.
He recalled that the Supreme Court had rejected the PTI’s claims of rigging of 35 National Assembly seats – the main cause of the 2014 sit-in – despite the party’s commitment to do so in a written agreement with the government. Never apologized though.
Dar explained that the PTI stubbornly tried to march in the red zone despite the government’s offer of an alternative protest venue in Sangjani. He emphasized that human rights should not be exercised in ways that create lawlessness and endanger the lives and property of both Pakistanis and diplomatic personnel.
The foreign minister highlighted that the government showed restraint, as the LEAs were armed only with water cannons and tear gas, not live ammunition.
Dar also questioned the legality of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s use of public resources to march on the federal capital, saying no federal unit had the right to do so.