Tehreek Minhajul Quran chief Tahirul Qadri on Tuesday said the federal and Punjab governments were using undemocratic tactics to thwart his long march, warning that if the long march was obstructed, the crowd would not remain under his control and the government would be responsible for the resulting chaos.
As Qadri was issuing the warning in a press conference in Lahore, the Islamabad police were busy placing containers to seal the federal capital’s ‘red zone’ in a bid to keep Qadri and his supporters away from the area on January 14.
Talking to reporters, Qadri alleged that the Punjab government was harassing transporters and forcing them to cancel bookings for the march. All MPAs in Punjab have been assigned the duty to stop participants of long march in their respective constituencies, he added.
He said his workers had informed him that containers were being placed on Islamabad roads to block peaceful protesters. Similarly, the Punjab government is planning to block main roads in the province leading to Islamabad, he said.
An international media firm has been hired to start a psychological campaign against the long march and to propagate that this march is foreign-funded, claimed Qadri, adding that the government is trying to create anarchy in the country.
Responding to a question regarding rumours of his house arrest, he said he could be arrested but millions of his workers could not be detained.
Leaders of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslameen were also present in the press conference. They announced that their activists would take part in the long march on January 14.
Meanwhile Minhajul Quran Information Secretary Qazi Faiz said the long march led by Dr Qadri would be launched at 9am from Lahore on January 13.
Per schedule, the convoy will pass through Muridke, Gujrat, Gojar Khan and will stay for a while in Rawalpindi. He said rallies from other cities will join the main convoy to head towards Islamabad. He stated that there will be a ‘public parliament’ in front of the Parliament House.
ISLAMABAD SECURITY MEASURES: On the other hand, security has already been tightened in the Red Zone and Islamabad police is finalising a strategy to deal with any untoward incident. Over 13,000 police and Rangers will perform security duties in Islamabad for the Minhajul Quran rally.
The police have started placing containers to seal the red zone, in a bid to keep Qadri and his supporters away from the area on January 14. The police have also started combing the slum areas to arrest suspected miscreants.
The ICT Police, which currently has 9,500 police officials, has requested other provinces to send additional officials to be deployed at various places in the capital.
“The red zone will be completely sealed in a couple of days,” said a senior police official. Houses in the red zone, the Parliament House, the Presidency, the Supreme Court, Diplomatic Enclave and other important buildings will also be sealed, he added.
Qadri had announced that he would protest in front of the Parliament House with millions of supporters on January 14. The Islamabad administration has informed Qadri to stage his protest at the F-9 Park only.
A senior ICT administration official told Pakistan Today that participants of the long march might face problems due to weather conditions. He said the administration had been directed to keep sufficient medical staff and medicines to deal with any kind of medical emergency.
In a long march security-related meeting chaired by Interior Minister Rehman Malik in Islamabad, the participants decided that special enclosures would be organised for the rally and the participants would be required to be peaceful and remain inside the enclosures.
All those entering Islamabad for long march must possess their national identity cards while the transporters are required to keep the documents of their buses in their vehicles.
It was also decided that an undertaking would have to be signed by the owners of the buses that the owner, driver and conductor would be held responsible if any terrorist was found in the vehicle and if any explosion took place inside the vehicle. The owners would also be held liable to pay compensation in case of any death.
The meeting also decided that students being brought in the long march must possess valid student identity cards of their institutions.
The meeting decided that the transport would be subject to scrutiny after the payment and the sponsors/investor of the transport was subject to declaration of source of income to justify his expenses. The organisers of the rally would also have to justify expenditures for offering the transport to the participants.
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