- Justifies actions against protestors, asserting they had to comply with High Court order barring PTI from holding any protest
- Surprising the party chooses to protest on a date when some foreign dignitaries visit Pakistan: Dar
ISLAMABAD: While reaffirming the government’s commitment to ensure the security of the Red Zone, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar on Wednesday justified the government actions against the protestors, asserting they had to comply with the Islamabad High Court ordered whereby the PTI had been barred from holding any protest gathering in the Red Zone.
“In pursuance of the court ruling, the government had tasked Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to engage with the party but the efforts remained unsuccessful”, DPM Ishaq Dar said while briefing the members of the diplomatic corps on the recent situation caused by the protestors of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
During a briefing to the members of the diplomatic corps, DPM Dar emphasized the federal government always prioritised the Red Zone’s security which housed Parliament House, Supreme Court of Pakistan, federal institutions and the diplomatic corps.
“The government had enacted a new law “Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act, 2024” that barred the protest demonstrations in the Red Zone and required permission from a magistrate for any public gatherings”, he stated.
Dar explained that PTI stubbornly attempted to march into the Red Zone, despite the government’s offer of an alternative protest site in Sangjani. He emphasized that freedoms and human rights should not be exercised in ways that cause lawlessness and endanger the lives and property of both Pakistanis and the diplomatic corps.
“Our priority has always been to take care of the Red Zone, which has the Parliament, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, key federal institutions but most importantly, the diplomatic corps,” Dar said while speaking to the members of the diplomatic corps on Wednesday.
Dar informed the diplomats that PTI had chosen to hold a protest on November 24, which coincided with the planned visit of the Belarusian president. He noted that this was consistent with the party’s past malafide practice of scheduling protests on significant dates, such as the SCO summit earlier this year and in 2014, when their protest led to the postponement of the Chinese president’s visit.
He recalled that the Supreme Court had dismissed PTI’s claims of rigging in 35 National Assembly seats—the primary reason behind the 2014 sit-in—yet the party never apologized, despite having committed to do so in a written agreement with the government.
Dar informed the diplomats that PTI had chosen to hold a protest on November 24, which coincided with the planned visit of the Belarusian president.
“It is surprising that a political party chooses to protest on a date when some foreign dignitaries are visiting Pakistan,” he said.
“You are very dear to us and your security is very dear to us,” Dar said, addressing diplomats. “We enacted a law … that bars protest in the Red Zone. If you want to do any peaceful protest, there is a procedure. You have to apply to a district magistrate, get permission and hold your ‘peaceful rally’.”
“However, they have a history of not being peaceful,” Dar added.
Several lives were lost in the three days of protests in Islamabad, which the PTI had labelled as “final call”, including a policeman and three Rangers officials who were knocked down by a speeding vehicle, officials and hospital sources said. The PTI claimed that 12 of its supporters were killed during the protest.
Incarcerated Imran seeks impartial probe into protesters’ killing
On Tuesday, in a post on Imran Khan’s official X account — which he does not personally have access to — issued the content of his talk with journalists on Tuesday, where he demanded the Supreme Court form an impartial judicial commission to investigate the “massacre of innocent and peaceful citizens.”
“I have demanded from the Supreme Court to form an impartial judicial commission to investigate the massacre of innocent and peaceful citizens and to give severe punishment to those who ordered the massacre and those involved in it,” he was quoted as saying.
Khan said the PTI would not stay quiet on the matter and would continue to raise its voice on the issue.
“The data of hospitals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi regarding the martyrs and injured should be made public as soon as possible and CCTV footage of all hospitals and Safe City should be preserved so that evidence cannot be lost like on May 9,” he said.
