Long march security: Civil servants, police remained confused

PESHAWAR: The civil servants remained in a fix during the tug of war between the government and opposition at a time when the long march was launched towards Islamabad supported by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister and his cabinet.

Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had tweeted that the Law Ministry was being consulted to seek its opinion about action against KP chief minister and the police teams that were accompanying him during the long march towards Islamabad.

He said that some federal employees posted in KP facilitated the march while armed police officers were among those who came to Islamabad. It was hinted that action will be taken against those administrative and police officers under the Estacode. On the other hand, the senior cops said they had to provide security to the chief minister as per the law, especially when terror incidents happened in recent weeks.

“Only those policemen went to Islamabad along with chief minister who were part of his security under the law. A provincial cadre SP who is head of the security team for the CM was leading the cops,” said a source in the KP government. He added that no other cops participated in the long march. There were social media reports before the march that the KP police chief had been called from the federal capital to help stop the long march.

KP Inspector General of Police general Moazzam Jah Ansari later denied receiving any call regarding the march, saying the force will perform its duty as per the law. On the other hand, before and during the long march, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan continued warning the officers of Punjab and Islamabad police not to stop his party workers from reaching Islamabad. He openly criticised the new chief of the Islamabad police on several occasions.

Just before the march, a policeman was martyred during a raid on the house of a PTI worker in Lahore. The video of a cop, who exhibited extraordinary tolerance despite being provoked by a woman during the long march, went viral on social media. He was rewarded for performing his duty in a composed manner. There were clashes in different parts of Punjab and Islamabad between police and protesters but things did not go out of control.