ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday discussed the prevailing political situation in the country with former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Gohar Ali Khan, warning him that the government will not allow the party to stage a protest sit-in or rally in the capital.
Thousands of Khan supporters are expected to arrive in Islamabad on Sunday for a “long march” to the capital. The PTI’s march is primarily aimed at pressurizing the government to end the jailed Khan’s imprisonment, which has lasted for over a year, on what his party contends are politically motivated charges. 
The party also aims to raise its voice against alleged rigging in the Feb. 8 general elections while calling for measures to ensure judicial independence, which it says has been undermined by the 26th constitutional amendment. The government denies this. 
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday directed the government to form a committee to hold discussions with the PTI. The court said that if no breakthrough was reached between the two parties, then the government would be responsible for maintaining law and order. It said that in that case, “no protest or rally or for that matter sit-in shall be allowed.”
“Mohsin Naqvi informed Barrister Gohar about the post-Islamabad High Court order situation,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. “He said we are bound by the high court’s order and cannot permit any procession, sit-in or rally.”
The minister informed the PTI chairman about the engagements of the 80-member high-level delegation accompanying the president of Belarus, who will be in Islamabad from Nov. 24-27. 
“Barrister Gohar said he will inform the Interior Minister about the final response after party consultation,” the state media said. 
MOTORWAYS, MAJOR ARTERIES SEALED
Pakistan’s National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) said on Friday that motorways across the country leading to Islamabad have been sealed from various areas to protect people’s lives ahead of the PTI’s planned protest. 
Authorities sealed off major arteries and roads with shipping containers leading to Islamabad from the surrounding Rawalpindi city, including at the Faizabad terminal, and other areas on Friday. 
In a notification released on Friday, the NHMP cited intelligence reports that protesters were planning to disrupt law and order in the capital, adding that they would be armed with sticks and slingshots. 
“To prevent any untoward situation and to protect the lives of the people, motorways have been closed from various locations,” the NHMP said.
“The lives and property of the people will be guaranteed at all costs. Those who take the law into their hands will be dealt with strictly.”
Hours earlier on Friday, the NHMP had shared a notification on social media platform X in which it had said that certain sections of the motorway were closed due to maintenance work. These sections were: M-1 Islamabad to Peshawar, M-2 Islamabad to Lahore, M-3 Lahore to Abdul Hakeem, M-4 Pindi Bhattian to Multan, M-14 Hakla to Yarik and M-11 Lahore to Sialkot. 
As per local media reports, the Metro Bus service between the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi will be suspended on Nov. 24 while a ban on public gatherings has been imposed in Punjab from Nov. 23-25 ahead of the PTI’s march. 
Earlier this week, Pakistan’s interior ministry had authorized the deployment of paramilitary Punjab Rangers and Frontier Corps troops in Islamabad to maintain law and order.
Pakistan’s parliament also passed a law earlier this year to regulate public gatherings in Islamabad, specifying timings for rallies and designating specific areas. The law prescribes three-year jail terms for participants in illegal assemblies and 10-year imprisonment for repeat offenders.

ISLAMABAD: Mourners in northwestern Pakistan’s Kurram district on Saturday demanded the government hold a transparent inquiry into sectarian clashes that killed 41 people this week, as fear grips the restive area days after the attack. 
Authorities imposed a curfew and suspended mobile phone services in Kurram district after 41 people were killed on Thursday when gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying members of the minority Shiite community. 
The assault, one of the deadliest such attacks in recent years in the area, took place in the district where sectarian clashes have killed dozens of people in recent months. 
“A transparent inquiry of this incident should be carried out,” Hayat Abbas Najafi, one of the mourners, told Reuters at one of the district’s main towns Parachinar during a funeral ceremony. 
“We call on the government as well as security institutions that Parchinar, which is a great part of Pakistan, should be saved from sectarianism and should be provided safety and security.”
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which came a week after authorities reopened a key highway in the region that had been closed for weeks following deadly clashes.
Previous clashes in July and September killed dozens of people and ended only after a tribal council called for a ceasefire.
Sajjad Hussain, another mourner, said among those killed were infants as young as six months old and women.
“They were innocent passengers. What was their fault,” he asked. 
Shop owners in Parachinar announced a three-day strike on Friday to protest the attack while locals described an atmosphere of fear across the district following the incident. 
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called the shootings a “terrorist attack.” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack, and Sharif said those behind the killing of innocent civilians will not go unpunished.
Shiite Muslims make up about 15 percent of the 240 million population of Sunni-majority Pakistan.
With inputs from Reuters