ISLAMABAD: Just a day after Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry claimed all the arrangements for his party’s long march to the federal capital were in their final stages, the government decided to call out army and deploy troops in Islamabad if PTI chief Imran Khan gave a call for the march.
The decision was taken on Tuesday at a meeting, chaired by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, held to evolve a strategy to tackle the much-trumpeted march by the PTI.
Official sources told Dawn that Pakistan Army would be deployed in the capital city’s Red Zone to stop the entry of protestors in the high security area. The meeting decided that the security of all important buildings and the Diplomatic Enclave located in the Red Zone would be handed over to the Pakistan Army during the protest march.
The army troops would be called out in aid of civil administration under Article 245 of the Constitution, which says that “armed forces shall, under the directions of the federal government, defend Pakistan against external aggression or threat of war, and, subject to law, act in aid of civil power when called upon to do so.”
PTI Chairman Imran Khan had recently told a gathering in Taxila that his long march would give this time a ‘surprise’ to the government, which was clueless about his plan.
He said the march on Islamabad was aimed at pressing the authorities to hold early elections. While he has yet to give a final date of the protest, he has repeatedly said the government would find itself unable to control the ‘sea of people’ if and when they reach Islamabad on his call.
At the meeting, it was decided that Sindh police and personnel of paramilitary forces, including Pakistan Rangers and Frontier Constabulary (FC), would be requisitioned to assist the capital police force during the protest.
As many as 30,000 personnel of Islamabad and Sindh police, Rangers and FC would be available to ensure law and order, the interior minister told the meeting.
The meeting was also briefed by security agencies about the planned long march. The participants were told that 15,000 to 20,000 protesters might take part in it.
No cipher presented in NSC meeting
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has revealed that the cipher — which former prime minister Imran Khan claims contains details of a foreign conspiracy to oust him from power — was not presented in the National Security Committee meeting held soon after the incumbent government took over, insisting that the then ambassador to the US had instead only briefed the meeting.
Sanaullah made this statement while speaking in Dawn News show “Live with Adil Shahzeb” on Tuesday.
A few days after the PTI government was toppled through a no-confidence motion in the National Assembly, an NSC meeting was held under the new premier, Shehbaz Sharif, which affirmed that there was no foreign conspiracy against Imran.
“The NSC discussed the telegram (cipher) received from the Pakistan embassy in Washington. Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US briefed the committee on the context and content of his telegram,” a statement issued after the NSC had said.
However, the interior minister has clarified that the cipher was not presented or shown in the meeting.
“There was no such cipher presented in the NSC meeting held soon after we took the reins,” Sanaullah said.
Sanaullah said that the then Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Asad Majeed Khan had appeared before committee and “denied [finding] any conspiracy in the cipher”.
The minister said the fuss regarding the cipher was created to harm foreign policy of the country.
The interior minister said that the “master copy” of the cipher must be with the Foreign Office while its copies were sent to the president, chief justice of Pakistan, National Assembly speaker and the Prime Minister’s Office. However, Imran took the PMO with him, he alleged.
Talking about the planned long march of the PTI, Sanaullah said the government was open to negotiations on the issue because that was how “political parties must work”.
He warned that a three-pronged strategy was still in place if Imran attempted to enter Islamabad to “disrupt” the law and order situation in the capital. “It would be unwise of him to proceed with the long march because his arrest would be inevitable in that situation,” Sanaullah added.
Commenting on an observation made by CJP Umar Ata Bandial on Article 62(1)f of the Constitution, the minister said the article must be repealed. The chief justice had on Tuesday remarked that the Article was a “draconian law”.