Govt decides not to allow PTI’s long march

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided not to allow PTI to take out the long march and will make every effort to block it.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the federal cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Briefing the media after the federal cabinet meeting, a group of ministers led by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah and Adviser to PM on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Qamar Zaman Kaira laid down the reasons which prompted the government to not permit the PTI to hold this march. They were also flanked by the leaders of the ruling of coalition parties.

Rana Sanaullah said the PTI-wallahs said that this was going to be a ‘bloody march’ and the government will not allow anyone to lay siege of the federal capital.

“They first raised the issue of foreign conspiracy, then the assassination plot and now they are trying to spread anarchy in the garb of long march,” Rana Sana elaborated.

The interior minister further said “They said this march is going to be bloody. They had already raised civil disobedience slogan and attacked institutions.”

He said “They will be stopped as they wanted to attack the Federation from one province. All their ‘braves’ have now gathered in Peshawar and I warn them to behave.”

 The federal cabinet took the decision maintaining that the PTI will not be allowed to spread chaos, violence and anarchy by besieging the country’s capital in the name of so-called long march.

Rana Sanaullah said PTI’s proposed long march has nothing to do with the democratic norms as these people were hell-bent to create trouble and spread anarchy in the country.

Reminding PTI’s previous sit-in in 2014, he said these are the people, who had besieged the Prime Minister House, provoked people to start civil disobedience in the country and hanged dirty clothes on the building of the parliament and the Supreme Court. He said PTI chief Imran Khan is working on divide and mislead the nation and the government will not allow him to promote this agenda.

Rana Sanaullah said the entire PTI leadership is present in Peshawar from where it is planning to invade the federal capital by utilizing personnel and resources of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said violent gangs cannot be allowed to attack the federation. He warned the people, who have become hypnotized by Imran Khan’s politics of hatred and divide, to come out of this illusion and stay away from these things.

He said maintaining law and order and ensuring security and protection of people’s lives, businesses, and properties is the top priority of the government and nobody or group will be allowed to harm them. He urged all the institutions, political parties and the media to play their role to prevent this attempt of creating disorder.

He said that PTI has moved from abuses to bullets, referring to a constable who was shot dead on Monday night during a raid in Punjab.

He said the government respects the right of expression and staging a peaceful democratic protest, but nobody can be allowed to stage a bloody march.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Communication Maulana Asad Mahmood said PTI’s long march is aimed at ruining country’s politics and the economy. He said a violent march will not be allowed.

Qamar Zaman Kaira of Pakistan People’s Party said that the decision to not allowing violent protest was taken unanimously.