Islamabad (HRNW) Police in the federal capital on Tuesday beefed up security and sealed the red zone. The move comes after the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced to stage a sit-in outside the offices of the Election Commission of Pakistan as a protest.
The Islamabad Capital Territory Police (ICT Police) on Tuesday said that the district administration had imposed Section 144 in the Red Zone and all roads leading to the Election Commission building and Radio Pakistan in the Red Zone have been sealed.
A spokesperson for the police said that peaceful protests were a democratic right of all citizens, which is respected by the police, but no protestors will be allowed to enter the Red Zone. Instead, they urged demonstrators to stage their protests at the press club or F-9 Park.
Moreover, security has been put on high alert and more than a thousand personnel from the ICT police, Rangers, Frontier Constabulary and Punjab Constabulary have been deployed.
Contingents of the anti-riot force of the police, along with water cannons have been deployed to disperse protesters.
According to the PTI, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja has taken partisanship and dishonesty to new heights by not de-seating dissident parliamentarians of the party.
In a tweet from the party on Tuesday, they demand that parliamentarians who had been elected on the party ticket – in the provincial and national assemblies – but had violated Article 63-A of the Constitution and sold their conscience, should be de-seated.
In this regard, it said that the party and its supporters will stage demonstrations outside of Election Commission offices in various cities including federal capital Islamabad, provincial capitals Lahore and Karachi, along with Multan and Gujranwala.
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