ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad police have imposed a ban on public gatherings in the federal capital in view of “elevated security concerns,” Pakistani state media reported on Saturday.
The South Asian country has been witnessing a surge in militant attacks, including a string of coordinated assaults launched last Sunday that killed more than 50 people in the southwestern Balochistan province.
To prohibit any public gathering, the Islamabad police said they had imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a provision that allows authorities to prohibit assembly of four or more people.
“These restrictions are designed to maintain public order and ensure the safety of all citizens,” an Islamabad police spokesperson was quoted as saying by the state-run APP news agency.
The report did not specify how long the restriction would be in place.
The development also comes a week before a rally by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) opposition party in Islamabad on September 8. The rally was initially planned for July to build pressure for Khan’s release from prison following his arrest over a year ago, but the party had rescheduled it for August 22.
The PTI once again postponed the gathering this month after the Islamabad administration denied permission for the event, citing security threats and a lack of resources with security agencies.
The capital police urged the public to avoid participating in any “unauthorized” political activities that could disrupt the law-and-order environment, according to the APP report.
“We ask everyone to cooperate with these measures to help us maintain peace and security,” the police spokesperson said.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government on Saturday ruled out negotiations with jailed former PM Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) opposition party as part of a national dialogue to address Pakistan’s political, economic and security challenges, saying it was not possible without an apology by the PTI over the May 9, 2023 riots.
The development comes as Pakistan faces low foreign exchange reserves, currency devaluation and high inflation, while the South Asian country has also witnessed a surge in militant activities in its two western regions, including a string of coordinated attacks launched last Sunday that killed more than 50 people in Balochistan.
Khan has been in jail since August last year on multiple charges, while his party and legal team have been struggling to get him out of the prison. Some reports earlier suggested that Mahmood Khan Achakzai, chief of Pashtookhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and a Khan ally, was engaged with the government for some indirect talks, but the government has ruled this out.
“Given Imran Khan and his way of politics, talks cannot be initiated till he apologizes to the nation and national security institutions over May 9 incidents,” Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal told reporters after a key meeting of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party in Lahore.
The statement came months after a spokesman for the Pakistani military, which has ruled the country for nearly half of its history, said political parties could hold negotiations to resolve national issues, but demanded a public apology from Khan and his party over attacks on military installments on May 9, 2023 during violent protests over Khan’s brief arrest in a graft case.
The protesters vandalized military installations in Lahore, Mianwali and Faisalabad in Punjab and a few others in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, prompting authorities to round up hundreds of Khan supporters for their alleged involvement in the riots. Khan has refused to apologize for the violence and says he was under detention at the time and was unaware of the May 9, 2023 protests, according to media reports.
Iqbal said the former premier would not get any amnesty and he would have to prove his innocence in the cases against him.
“You will not get NRO [amnesty],” he said, referring to Khan. “You will have to prove your innocence.”
Since his ouster from office in a parliamentary no-trust vote in April 2022, Khan was booked in dozens of cases and was convicted in four of them. Two of the cases have since been suspended and he was recently acquitted in the remaining two, but the authorities have since brought new charges against him.
Arguably Pakistan’s most popular politician, Khan says the cases against him are “politically motivated,” aimed at keeping him from returning to power. Pakistani authorities deny this.
Iqbal told Arab News that PM Sharif on Friday held a meeting with another opposition leader, Maulana Fazalur Rehman, who heads the Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) party, as part of the national dialogue and he would be meeting other leaders as well as the country was facing an “unannounced war by the enemies.”
Political analysts say the Sharif-led government is the “beneficiary” of a stalemate between Khan’s PTI and the military establishment and hence, a thaw between the two was not in its interest.
“The PML-N needs time to consolidate its position and reclaim the lost political capital, so it would want this political deadlock to continue,” Zaigham Khan, a political analyst, told Arab News.
“The real issue at the moment is the tension between the PTI and the military establishment and a solution to it doesn’t seem imminent.”
Another analyst, Amir Zia, believed that it was against the government’s interest to engage the PTI in the dialogue.
“The PTI also seems least interested in talks with the government as they know the authority rests somewhere else,” he told Arab News. “But the politicians should demonstrate maturity to restore stability in the country.”