ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has warned the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of ousted prime minister Imran Khan against announcing another long march to the capital, a week after the federal government said it had decided to ban political rallies in Islamabad.
Last week, Khan’s call to supporters for a march to the capital had prompted the government to seal off main roads leading to the capital, but hundreds of protesters still reached the heart of the capital, fighting running battles with police over several hours before the main body of the rally, led by Khan, entered the city. Police fired tear gas and baton-charged the vanguard of the protest march, and detained hundreds of protesters, who had set fire to trees, vehicles, shops, and a bus station on the main thoroughfare leading to parliament.
At least 18 police and paramilitary troops were wounded, according to the government, after dozens of the protesters breached the last line of security outside the parliament. There were also clashes in several cities in Punjab province and the southern port city of Karachi.
“I am warning PTI against the announcement of another long march,” Sanaullah said on Twitter. “One thing I want to illustrate, as soon as the long March is announced 'let them come and I’ll see how they cross barriers this time'," he added in a veiled threat.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Sanaullah called the events of last Wednesday “an attack on the centre,” saying PTI supporters would be arrested if another “anti-state” march was announced.
In an interview with a local TV channel the same day, Sanaullah said the government had evidence Khan and other PTI leaders had planned to disturb law and order of the capital.
“He [former PM Khan] was advising his people to come armed [to Islamabad],” said the minister. “We have evidence of their telephonic conversations. [We have evidence] of them discussing this in telephonic conversations and in meetings,” he added.
The minister accused Khan’s party of bringing 2,000-2,500 workers to Islamabad a day before last week's march, saying a “majority of them were also armed.”
Ahead of Khan’s march to Islamabad last week, Punjab Police had said they recovered weapons from the Pakistani city of Lahore, the epicenter of the clashes, from the cars of two office-bearers of Khan’s PTI party, raising fears that PTI marchers were planning violence.
Though PTI leaders have variously denied marchers were armed, in an interview with a local TV channel on Monday, Khan admitted many supporters participating in the long march were carrying “pistols” and he had called off the protest fearing unrest and bloodshed.
“The hatred against police had already grown [because of what] they [government] made the police do … this would have intensified,” Khan said, explaining why he had disbanded the protest. “And seeing me they [supporters] would have become more impassioned and at that point I was 100 percent sure that bullets would be fired.”
“Even on our side, people were ready, many people I saw were carrying pistols, so I was afraid that the next step would be that there would be unrest.”
