ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s interior minister Rana Sanaullah on Wednesday stopped workers and supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party from holding a protest in front of the election commission’s building in Islamabad’s Red Zone while warning them of stern consequences.
The Red Zone is a heavily protected area in the federal capital which is home to sensitive government installations and foreign embassies.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday issued a unanimous verdict against Khan’s party, saying it had received illegal funds from prohibited foreign sources. The ruling was given in a case filed by Akbar S. Babar, one of the founding PTI members, in November 2014. The ECP also issued a show-cause notice to PTI, asking why its funds should not be confiscated.
The PTI had already announced to hold protests on August 4 outside the ECP offices in Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar while asking the chief election commissioner, Sikandar Sultan Raja, to step down for not being “neutral.”
“Nobody will be allowed to hold a protest in the Red Zone,” the interior minister said during a news conference. “If someone wants to enter the area, they should not complain about the consequences of their actions later.”
Acknowledged that peaceful protest was everyone’s right, Sanaullah said the PTI leadership could hold the demonstration outside the Red Zone where the government would provide it full security.
“There is a complete ban on protests in the Red Zone and there is an apprehension of PTI miscreants attacking [the] ECP [building],” he said in a Twitter post. “So, if anyone tries to cross the red line, strict action will come into play.”
He noted the Supreme Court had already designated F-9 Park in Islamabad for peaceful demonstrations, adding the space could also be used by leaders and workers of Khan’s party.
In a statement issued earlier in the day, Khan’s coordinator and focal person on international media, Raoof Hasan, said that PTI leaders had decided to “file two different petitions in the IHC [Islamabad High Court]: one for contempt of court(s) and the other for the legal ambiguities which have arisen from the [ECP] order” in the funding case.
He also accused the ECP of working in connivance with PTI’s rival political factions while “using all technical means to close the door on political fundraising.”
Hasan said there was no threat to Imran Khan’s political future, but the days of “a corrupt system and its patrons were numbered.”
The interior minister, however, described the ECP verdict as a “damning indictment” of ex-PM Khan.
“The coalition government will explore different options and the decision of adding the names [of PTI leaders] to the ECL [Exit Control List] will be undertaken accordingly,” he wrote on Twitter
