The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday rescheduled a planned rally in Islamabad for Sept. 8, with the party leadership claiming founder Imran Khan had directed them to postpone the gathering.
Addressing media, PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan said the party had issued a notification confirming the rally’s postponing. “We postponed the jalsa following a meeting with the PTI founder in Adiala jail,” he said, with PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan also confirming that the rally’s date was changed on the instruction of Imran Khan.
“We have received information that the government is conspiring to spread anarchy by placing hurdles in the path of the rally,” he alleged.
Earlier, the Islamabad administration had withdrawn a notification allowing the rally to proceed, maintaining that it did not have the resources to ensure security for it as a foreign cricket team was visiting the country and several religious parties had also planned protests for today. Additionally, it had pointed to the PTI’s preparations with gas masks and other paraphernalia as evidence that it was planning to instigate unrest. At the same time, the Punjab government had imposed Section 144, banning gatherings of five or more people until Aug. 24.
Following the PTI’s announcement, the Islamabad administration issued a fresh notification granting the party permission to stage its rally on Sept. 8. The notification has a list of instructions for the PTI warning it against violating any fundamental rights of citizens. It has also restricted the rally to start no earlier than 4 p.m. and conclude by 7 p.m. “It will be the jalsa organizer’s duty to disperse the party workers at the end of the rally. The workers will not be allowed to stay at the rally site on Sept. 8,” it said, emphasizing that the permission was for a rally and not a sit-in.
“No object of lethal or non-lethal force including batons of any size would be wielded by any participant of the gathering nor any participant shall indulge in violence or clashes. In case of any such incidence of clashes/violence the organizers shall be held responsible,” it continued, adding it was also the organizers’ responsibility to ensure the participants dispersed peacefully at the conclusion of the rally.
The PTI’s delay decision is a marked step down from statements of the party’s leadership on Wednesday night when authorities had withdrawn a no-objection certificate granting permission for the rally. Various PTI leaders, including Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and Sher Afzal Marwat had vowed to stage the rally whether or not they had permission and warned that any “unrest” would be the responsibility of the incumbent government.
Consequently, police had sealed all major thoroughfares leading into Islamabad, hampering traffic. Security forces were also placed on high alert and containers erected in various places to restrict movement.