• Punjab govt bans gatherings in Rawalpindi, neighbouring districts
• 4,000 police personnel deployed, Rangers called to help maintain law & order
• Party leaders vow to gather at Liaquat Bagh ‘despite all hurdles’

LAHORE / RAWALPINDI: In an attempt to thwart PTI’s protest on Saturday (today), the provincial government has banned all public gatherings and stationed paramilitary forces in Rawalpindi.

The party has announced Liaquat Bagh as the venue for the protest, which was earlier planned to be a jalsa. However, the PTI founder changed the decision, saying that the government would not allow his party to hold the event in the city and designate a venue in the suburbs.

In a video message on Friday, PTI Punjab acting president Hammad Azhar said the party would hold a “massive but peaceful political public gathering” at 2pm.

He urged the supporters to reach the venue well in time, as the party’s previous gathering in Lahore last week was forcibly cleared by the police for extending beyond the allowed time.

Even though PTI leaders have vowed to reach the venue “despite all hurdles”, it won’t be an easy task.

Rawalpindi Police, Rangers and Punjab Constabulary have planned to “lay a virtual siege” to the garrison city to stop PTI workers, a senior police official confirmed.

No traffic would enter or exit the city as roads would be blocked with containers and barbed wires.

“Extraordinary security measures have been taken to ensure peace in the city and nobody will be allowed to stage any protest,” the top police official said.

Section 144 in Rawalpindi

On Friday, a day before the protest, the deputy commissioners of Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Chakwal and Attock districts requested the Punjab Home Department to ban all gatherings in the city.

The request was promptly accepted, and Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, was imposed in the city and neighbouring districts.

The move bans all kinds of gatherings, sit-ins, rallies, demonstrations, jalsas, protests, and other activities like carrying or displaying weapons.

The four deputy commissioners expressed apprehensions that miscreants “could take advantage” of PTI’s protest to carry out “subversive/ anti-state activities to fulfil their nefarious designs”.

Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner Dr Hassan Waqar Cheema told Dawn that his administration and local police were working in coordination to maintain law and order in the district.

Local administrations of Attock and Rawalpindi will be assisted by six companies of Pakistan Rangers (Punjab) who have been stationed at the request of respective deputy commissioners.

The Ministry of Interior — which commands Rangers — has deployed the troops at the request of the Punjab Home Department.

The troops will remain in the two districts till Sunday.

Despite the restrictions, PTI leaders have vowed to reach the venue.

In a video message, PTI Lahore president Sheikh Imtiaz Mahmood said workers and supporters from Pubjab’s capital would reach Liaqat Bagh “to lead the movement launched for the independence of judiciary”.

PTI would continue its struggle until the law and Constitution are upheld, he added.

Traders miffed

Anticipating disruption in their business due to the protest, the shopkeepers of the nearby Raja Bazaar and Murree Road have expressed their annoyance at the planned activity.

“The government should allocate a separate space for protests as it disturbs business activities and movement of people on roads,” said Traders Association President Shahid Ghafoor Paracha.

He added that traders were already suffering from financial woes due to the high cost of electricity and gas.

He complained that too many protests had been held in the garrison city.

Earlier this year, Jamaat-i-Islami held a days-long sit-in on Murree Road against the high cost of electricity. There were also demonstrations by teachers, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan and other religious parties.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2024