IK planning to spread chaos under pretext of ‘long march’: minister

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Saturday said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is planning to spread chaos under the pretext of his long march despite his claim of holding a peaceful protest.

Addressing at a press conference, he shared alleged leaked audio of the former federal minister and PTI leader Ali Amin Gandapur, as evidence of his claim. In the alleged audio, man believed to be Gandapur could be heard speaking to an unknown person about bringing arms and ammunition. In the audio he also asked the other person to keep things and people ready at a location near the Islamabad border.

The interior minister said that a forensic audit of the audio clip would be conducted to prove its authenticity and asked chief secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Inspector General of Police (IGP) to take notice of the audio and arrest the two people in the audio as soon as possible. Recover the ammunition from the two persons, otherwise, they will be responsible for any untoward situation in the capital city, he warned.

He asked the chief secretary of Punjab and IGP Punjab that “we have provided information to the provincial government about armed persons with Imran Khan and requested to take action against the armed groups.”

The minister said that the main objective of PTI’s long march is to shed the blood of innocent people in the federal capital. PTI is planning to destroy and divide the country. “We do not allow armed persons to enter into the capital city, if they try, they will be dealt with an iron hand,” he said.

He said that “we have information that armed groups or criminals are joining the long march from different cities including Gujrat and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province with the aim to disturb the peace of the capital city.”

Sanaullah said that Khan wanted to create a law and order situation that cause clashes between the people and law enforcement agencies. In other words, he wanted to put people in front of the military, he said.

He said that a close aide of Khan and former minister Faisal Vawda had said that PTI long march will turn out to be a bloody march. The objective of his (Khan) long march is not to stage Jalsa or sit in but his objective is dead bodies, he said.

He said that Imran Khan is neither understands politics nor democracy.

The interior minister said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed a 13- member committee to oversee overall situation and then discussed it with premier and guide him.

How we can hold dialogue with them when they have started collection of ammunition, he said.

The government will not prevent them from staging a protest if Imran Khan Niazi wants to do it in a peaceful manner, he said. However, the government will use all its force to stop a siege of Islamabad if the PTI tries to storm the capital city, he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022