Naqvi warns PTI against Islamabad march, says governor’s rule among options for K-P amid security concerns
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Monday warned the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against pressing ahead with its planned September 27 march on Islamabad, saying the government was consulting the Law Ministry on legal options for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), including imposing Governor’s Rule, amid the security situation.
“See, we have already told them that whatever legal option we have, we will consult the Law Ministry and the prime minister will decide. But it won’t happen that they (PTI) come (to Islamabad) and shut down the country for 10 days. That will never happen, I can assure you,” Naqvi said at a press conference in Lahore when asked whether Governor’s Rule was being considered in K-P.
Naqvi’s statement followed a series of attacks in the K-P over the past week. Six Pakistan Army personnel were killed on Sunday in an exchange of fire with terrorists in Hangu. A day earlier, a vehicle explosion near a mosque inside the Kohat Police Lines was followed by an armed assault in which at least 23 people, including 15 police personnel, were martyred. On the other hand, the PTI has announced plans to march on Islamabad on September 27, with the party demanding the release of its founder, Imran Khan. The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued directions concerning the planned protest, including barring the use of state resources to facilitate the march.
The interior minister during the press conference criticised the PTI for the September 27 march in Islamabad, saying that “Neither you nor any minister came to the funerals.”
“The situation in K-P over the past 10 days is in front of everyone. There was a suicide attack on a mosque, and two or three other attacks besides. Our captains have been martyred, our soldiers have been martyred, our police personnel have been martyred — and we are preparing to march on one city,” he said.
Read: Tarar warns no violent group will be allowed to enter Islamabad
Naqvi added the protest would not benefit PTI and would instead damage the economy, saying that “They will hurt themselves, and they will hurt the people.”
He said PTI’s leadership had repeatedly been told that political demands could not be won through such means, and urged the party to reconsider while it still could.
“I would say they still have time. They should not go into a situation from which there is no way back,” Naqvi said.
On enforcement, the interior minister stated that the government would implement the IHC order on the march, which barred political parties from occupying roads, highways, interchanges, toll plazas or public buildings, and directed provincial governments not to allow state resources to be used for the protest.
“This time it will not happen that they come and the road is blocked for 10 or 20 days. That possibility does not exist — I’m telling you this in advance,” he stated.
Naqvi added that authorities would also leave “no loophole” if the march went ahead, though he said he believed most PTI leaders did not favour it: “The majority of people in their leadership do not want to do the long march.”
Read more: Long marches, strikes, sit-ins may cost Pakistan’s economy Rs120b a day: Aurangzeb
Asked whether rising fuel prices could add to public anger and boost support for the protest, Naqvi pointed to volatility in international oil markets. “Do you know where petrol prices are going in the world? Do you know the current situation?” he asked, adding that maintaining supply had been difficult amid global shortages.
“It does not suit anyone that we increase prices,” he said. The interior minister added, “I think the prime minister is in great pain over this — that somehow we should bring it down. We are looking for other ways to bring petrol prices down.”
Naqvi said he remained optimistic about the overall situation, citing support from traders, farmers and chambers of commerce for keeping economic activity running.
Sept 27 protest cannot be stopped
Later, K-P Information Minister Shafi Jan, responding to Naqvi’s press conference, said that “Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will never give up its constitutional and democratic rights,” adding that the September 27 protest could not be stopped through threats.
In a statement, the provincial minister stated that the government should remember the fundamental rights guaranteed to citizens under the Constitution when talking about the law.
Shafi Jan also criticised Naqvi for referring to the funerals of martyrs, saying they should not be made a subject of political rhetoric. “Using the funerals of martyrs for political point-scoring is highly regrettable,” he said.
“If the federal government is not afraid of the long march, why has Islamabad already been turned into a ‘container city’?” Shafi Jan asked.
He also questioned Naqvi’s statement that a permanent strategy would be devised to deal with PTI, “We want to ask why the same strategy was not devised for economic stability.”
Shafi Jan said the federal government should not blame PTI for the country’s economic difficulties “but by their so-called experienced economic team.”
“We will not be intimidated by threats from the federal government,” Shafi Jan added. He said PTI had faced government pressure and coercion for a long time and would continue to exercise what it considered its constitutional and democratic rights.
Govt says no violent group allowed to come
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Sunday that “no violent group will be allowed to come to Islamabad,” citing the IHC order against road closures. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb also warned the same day that sustained protests and road closures could cost the economy roughly Rs120 billion a day, with the services sector bearing the largest share.
Also on Sunday, PTI K-P President Junaid Akbar warned the government against using force during the party’s planned September 27 Islamabad protest. “We will turn Islamabad into Somnath,” he said in Peshawar, adding that PTI workers would reach Islamabad through multiple routes, including the motorway, GT Road, Margalla Hills and Dera Ismail Khan.
Responding, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry called the plan a “conspiracy” and said the government would not allow illegal activity or anything that threatened lives.
“The right to protest does not give the right to attack,” Chaudhry said, adding that peaceful protesters would be provided protection, but “if you come as a terrorist, then you will not go back”.
Referring to Akbar’s remarks, Chaudhry said, “He says he will make Somnath. We know that he makes Somnath. He has made K-P Somnath.”