ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan faces a big challenge to implement his decision not to allow any political rally or activity at the D-Chowk of the federal capital as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) plans to hold a public meeting at the same venue on its 20th foundation day, April 24.
The government has apprehensions that like the past the PTI may convert its public meeting into a sit-in. “I can’t help thinking about the D-Chowk (in regard to PanamaLeaks). But, this time the sit-in may not have to be as long as it was the last time,” Imran Khan sounded a warning on Wednesday. This apparently further alarmed the government.
This disagreement may become another bone of contention between the federal government and the PTI. Since the interior minister is the in-charge of the security of Islamabad, it is his primary decision to sanction or prohibit such activities especially in the high security Red Zone.
As usual, the PTI is likely to insist on organizing its show at the D-Chowk while the government will resist it till the last. A showdown is not ruled out at this point of time. The PTI asserts to hold its foundation day at this venue at a time when there is already tremendous political hype on the PanamaLeaks.
By the time, the event will be organized or would not be allowed to be held the judicial commission, announced by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, will start functioning. In the past whenever the governmentwas compelled to allow such events at this point, it got written assurances from the organizers but these were sadly never adhered to. Every time, the law was violated, forcing the administration to book the transgressors later.
Successive governments have been taking the decision of barring political affairs at the D-Chowk but had not been able to enforce it in the face of pressure of the protesters. Same happened in August 2014 when the PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) had stormed it and kept the place occupied for several months. During their sit-ins, they had unprecedentedly attacked the key installations including the Pakistan Television Headquarters. A year back, the PAT had also seized the venue for some days but its supporters had dispersed peacefully after an agreement with the previous government.
The interior minister took the unambiguous decision of banning political rallies and activities at the D-Chowk after thousands of followers of executed police commando Mumtaz Qadri had captured it a few weeks back and stayed there for four days. They had vacated it although none of their demands was accepted by the government. This reflected their lack of preparations for this kind of agitation.
“There will be complete ban on staging political and religious rallies in the Red Zone and at the D-Chowk in particular in the future until the federal cabinet reaches a decision in this regard,” Chaudhry Nisar said after this sit-in was wrapped up. “Practical steps will be taken for the security of the Red Zone. The matter of holding public rallies in the Red Zone will also be taken up in the Parliament.”
He said strict action will be taken against the protesters who violated the law and caused damage to the public property. “They damaged the government installations put in place for Metro bus, fire brigade and CCTV cameras.”
At the same time, the interior minister directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to rebuild the D-Chowk immediately to make it ‘no go’ area for protesters in the future.
The CDA has been ordered to redesign the D-Chowk area. It is currently busy dismantling the present structure so that the whole area is properly redesigned and is made more purposeful. Political demonstrations and rallies at this point obviously jeopardize the security of Red Zone including the important buildings in the vicinity, and also create inconvenience for the residents and working class of the federal capital. It is planned that huge steel structure will barricade the D-Chowk to block even forcible entry of crowds into it.