Pakistan government, opposition denied permission to hold rallies in Islamabad’s Red Zone

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad administration on Monday refused to give permission to both the Pakistani government and the opposition to hold rallies in the capital’s Red Zone, with regard to a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistani media reported. 
An alliance of opposition parties filed the motion on March 8, saying PM Khan had lost his parliamentary majority after over a dozen defections from his party. The opposition accuses PM Khan of mismanaging the economy and foreign policy, and poorly governing the country. 
The National Assembly of Pakistan will meet on Friday to take up the no-confidence motion. 
Both sides promised to gather hundreds of thousands of supporters in the federal capital’s Red Zone, a heavily protected area and home to major government offices and foreign embassies, raising fears of violence. 
But the two sides have been denied the permission to rally their supporters to the sensitive area, the Express Tribune newspaper reported. 
“The ICT administration is of the opinion that since both the government and the opposition were seeking the same venue, there was a possibility of a clash between the participants,” the report read. 
“It also said that holding rallies in the Red Zone would also create security concerns.” 
Ali Nawaz Awan, a member of PM Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, said they have now decided to hold the March 27 public gathering at the Parade Ground as it would prove to be the best venue for the number of people attending the rally. 
“Islamabad administration has been submitted a request for the change of venue,” Awan said on Twitter. 
Earlier, an alliance of opposition parties, the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), announced a joint public meeting at the Constitution Avenue in Islamabad on March 23. 
The opposition alliance later changed the date to March 25 in view of a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers and the Pakistan Day parade. 
Pakistan is hosting the two-day OIC foreign ministers conference on March 22-23.