ISLAMABAD: Capital police will be there to control the rally of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on November 30, but will not bear firearms – not even if the government ordered them to come armed.

“Our department has so informed the government,” several senior police officers told Dawn when asked about police preparations in view of the volatile politics surrounding the rally.

“We are servants of the State, not of individuals or people in power,” they said.

“Our policemen will be carrying only batons on the day, and a few of them teargas shells. Those munitions will be used if political activists tried to breach the security of the buildings on the Constitution Avenue,” the officers said.

Islamabad police command had shown its aversion to use “brutal force or firearms” last August too in confronting the charged workers of PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek of Dr Tahirul Qadri.

Police expect over 50,000 PTI supporters to converge on Islamabad for the November 30 rally.

“That is quite a number to give tough time to law enforcers if they go violent,” said the officers. They felt concerned about the participation of the IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) from the turbulent tribal areas, though.

“There are reports that they have started moving from their camps towards Islamabad,” the police officers said.

“If they are not intercepted on the way, the federal capital could face a dangerous situation.”

They said the Constitution Avenue was sealed on Monday and commuters were checked on Khayaban-i-Suhrawardy where it meets Ataturk Avenue.

Entry points of Islamabad will be partially sealed on the night of November 28, after concerned authorities “shared with police some reports” that the participants of the PTI rally may try to occupy, or lay siege to, such buildings as the Prime Minster Secretariat, the PM House, Cabinet Division, Pak Secretariat and National Assembly.

A wall of shipping containers, filled with sand and earth, is to be raised to block the vulnerable area.

Islamabad police have asked the government for 150 containers, 12 APCs (Armoured Personnel Carriers) and a grant of Rs100 million for purchasing anti-riot gear, 15,000 teargas shells, 10,000 rubber bullets to fortify the Red Zone, the officers said.

“Last August the police used force to stop the PTI and PAT from marching on the Prime Minister House and faced their retaliatory attacks two days later,” the officers recalled.

Containers will also be used to block access to Khayaban-i-Suhrawardy from the side roads at F-9 Park and the F-7 section of the Nazimuddin Road.

Published in Dawn, November 25th , 2014