ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is all set to hold its public rally in Quetta on Sunday (today) despite the terror threat alert issued by the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA).
NACTA, which is the country's counterterrorism authority, warned through a threat alert it issued on Thursday (October 22) that the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in connivance with the hostile international agencies (HIAs), plans to carry out large-scale terrorist activities in Quetta and Peshawar, targeting the political and religious leadership.
"Reportedly, the terrorists' plan includes assassination of high-profile political personalities through well-articulated bomb blasts and suicide bombings in near future," NACTA warned in its threat alert.
Talking to the Business Recorder, Afzal Ali Shigri, a security analyst and former inspector-general of police, said that all the security and intelligence agencies feed their data to NACTA, and the Authority, after analyzing the available data, issues threat alerts.
"NACTA is a responsible body, and all the relevant stakeholders should take guidelines issued by the Authority seriously," he asserted, adding that the Opposition needs to follow the security protocols to avoid any untoward incident if it insists on holding the rally with heightened security measures in place.
Besides the senior PDM leadership, the rally would also be addressed by former premier and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif through a video link.
PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who is currently in Gilgit-Baltistan, would also address the rally either in person if he could get some transport or via a video link.
Talking to the Business Recorder, a spokesman for the Balochistan government, Liaquat Shahwani, said that the provincial government had in place an "elaborate" security arrangement for the PDM rally in the wake of the "credible" threat alert issued by NACTA.
"The government is committed to providing foolproof security to the PDM leaders as well as to the participants of the rally," Shahwani said, adding that his government did not want to stop the Opposition's rally, "but we have requested them to delay it following the fresh terror threats".
He said that the provincial government would provide bulletproof vehicles to the PDM leadership, adding that the government would use all the available resources to avert any untoward incident.
In a media talk, the PDM president, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who is also the chief of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), said that the Opposition would not postpone its scheduled public rally, adding that providing security to the rally was the responsibility of the government.
"If they are unable to provide security to our rally then they [the government] must tell us in advance so that we can deploy our own volunteers for security purposes," the Maulana added.
Like the PDM's rallies in Gujranwala and Karachi, the Quetta rally would also be a "referendum" against the "fake" PTI government, he further stated.
Senior PML-N leader Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha, while talking to the Business Recorder, termed the threat alert issued by NACTA as "fake", saying it was "an effort by the federal government to terrify the Opposition" into postponing the rally.
"The present government has already lost its credibility, and following these 'fake' security alerts, its credibility has come to an end," he maintained.
He further stated that it was the responsibility of the government to ensure complete security to the PDM rally. "The government would be held responsible if anything untoward happened," he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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