ISLAMABAD: Police in Pakistan’s federal capital said on Friday the district administration had revoked the permission to “a political party” to hold a rally on July 6 and warned of legal action against anyone who violated the decision.
The announcement came as former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was preparing to hold the rally to protest the tax-laden budget presented last month, along with the spiraling cost of living in the country.
PTI said earlier this month that the federal government was delaying the issuance of a no-objection certificate for it to hold the public meeting, as its leaders promised record-breaking numbers.
The party maintained it never stopped its rivals from holding political rallies during its tenure in power.
“The district administration has revoked the permit for a political party’s rally on July 6,” the police announced in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “No rally will be allowed without a permit.”
“Legal action will be taken against those who take the law into their own hands,” it added. “Islamabad police will ensure the maintenance of law and order in the city at all costs.”
Earlier, the PTI criticized the state for “abducting” a senior member of its media team ahead of the rally in Islamabad, accusing it of focusing more on quelling dissent than dealing with the problem of militant violence.
“Rizwan Ahmad, a senior member of the PTI Media Department, has been abducted by agencies a short while ago,” Omar Ayub, a top PTI leader, said on social media. “This action by the agencies is just to silence his voice.”
“The agencies are not doing their job of countering terrorism and the latest assassination of Senator Hidayat Ullah Khan is an example, but they are busy silencing the voices of PTI that dare to speak the truth,” he added, referring to the killing of a Pakistani lawmaker in the northwestern Bajaur district in a blast that killed four others.
Only a day earlier, Amnesty International condemned such incidents against PTI workers and their family members, pointing out that they had been “forcibly disappeared since June 2024.”
Authorities revoke permit for Imran Khan’s party to hold public rally in Islamabad today
https://arab.news/6kzb6
Authorities revoke permit for Imran Khan’s party to hold public rally in Islamabad today
- The decision was mentioned by the capital police that warned of legal action against anyone who violated it
- Earlier, the PTI accused state agencies of ‘abducting’ media team member to quell dissenting political voices
Pakistan to sign preferential trade agreement with Russia during Sharif’s upcoming visit — envoy
- Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif plans to visit Russia on March 3-5, Russian state news agency RIA reported this month
- Islamabad will also organize Russia-Pakistan Business Forum, which will have participation from more than 100 Pakistani firms
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is seeking to sign a preferential trade agreement (PTA) with Russia to boost bilateral trade volume during Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s upcoming visit to Moscow, Pakistan’s ambassador to Moscow has said.
Pakistani Ambassador Faisal Niaz Tirmizi said this during the Moscow-Islamabad media forum, which was hosted by Sputnik ahead of Sharif’s scheduled visit to Moscow next month.
Pakistan and Russia, once Cold War rivals, have strengthened ties in recent years. In 2023, Islamabad began purchasing discounted Russian crude oil banned from European markets over Ukraine war, and also received first shipment of liquefied petroleum gas from Moscow.
The volume of Russia-Pakistan trade rose more than 100 percent to $1.81 billion from July 2023 till June 2024, though it experienced slight contraction in the last fiscal year, according to officials.
“Once the prime minister is here, we will start the process of signing PTA with the Eurasian Economic Union and the Russian Federation,” Tirmizi said at the forum.
Pakistan and Russia are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a Eurasian political, economic and security organization, and have had sustained high-level interactions and institutional mechanisms in recent years.
PM Sharif plans to visit Russia on March 3-5, Russian state news agency RIA reported this month, citing a Pakistani official.
Tirmizi said Russia-Pakistan ties were not only strategic or bilateral, but they had commercial, people-to-people and business dimensions as well.
“I am very happy to announce that Pakistan is also organizing the second Russia-Pakistan Business Forum during this visit,” he said.
“Over a hundred companies, hundred leading companies are coming from Pakistan to interact with the Russian partners.”
