KARACHI, Sept 11: The city braces itself for another showdown on Wednesday as Imran Khan, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief, has vowed to visit Karachi to lead a rally despite a ban on his entry into Sindh and amid warnings from the authorities to abide by the law.
The Sindh Home Department on Tuesday issued a notification which forbade Imran Khan to enter the province for a month under sections 5(1)(a) and (c) of the maintenance of public order, hours before his party decided to continue with the planned visit of its leader and a rally from Karachi airport to the Regal Chowk.
“And whereas, the government of Sindh is satisfied with that with a view to prevent Mr Imran Khan Chief of Tehreek-e-Insaaf Pakistan from acting in a manner prejudicial to public safety and maintenance of public order in the province of Sindh and to a void the violation of this department’s order dated 10th September 2007, which could create law and order problems and may disturb the peace of Karachi in particular, it is necessary to prevent him to enter and to reside in the province of Sindh,” says the notification.
Later, Rasheed Alam, the special secretary on home affairs, said the government had not taken any preemptive step or approached the authorities in Islamabad to stop Mr Khan from flying to Karachi.
“There is no such plan to stop him from taking a flight to Karachi but as we have served the notification, everybody concerned knows its implication and can judge better what he has to do.”
He said the city had already been put under Section 144, which disallowed any public gathering in any part of the metropolis and anyone who tried to violate the law would face the music.
The Sindh government warning, however, failed to stop the PTI provincial leadership, which reaffirmed its plans to welcome the party chief and hold the rally from Karachi airport to Saddar.
“We have talked to Imran Khan in Islamabad, who has confirmed that he will fly to Karachi on Wednesday morning and we have asked all workers to reach the airport,” said Khalid Imran, the PTI spokesman.
“The PTI has made it very clear to the Sindh government that it will be a peaceful event and our leadership had earlier accepted all responsibility of maintaining law and order, but with the announcement of the ban on Imran Khan’s entry into Sindh, the situation is totally different. Now the government alone will be responsible for any untoward incident.”
He said Imran Khan was due to arrive at noon by PK-301, and warned that if the authorities tried to stop him from entering Karachi, it might disturb the law and order situation.
Meanwhile, Waseem Akhtar, adviser on home affairs, said the decision to keep Imran Khan away from Karachi was an administrative step, taken to keep the traffic flow unaffected.
“Actually Imran Khan’s entry has been banned in line with the Supreme Court order, which has asked the authorities to ensure a smooth flow of traffic to prevent traffic jams,” he added. “If Mr Khan holds a rally on one of the major roads of the city, it would definitely affect the traffic in a big way.”
He said there was no ‘political’ intention behind banning the PTI leader’s entry into Sindh and warned that if he did not cooperate, the government machinery would move.
