Pakistan: Punjab deploys over 1500 personnel for security as Imran Khan’s long march set to resume

Islamabad [Pakistan], November 10 (ANI): As the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is all set to resume its “Haqeeqi Azadi march,” the provincial government of Punjab sent 1,542 personnel along with officers in four districts of provinces to ensure that security arrangements are in place, Dawn reported.
According to the directive issued by the additional inspector general of police (PHP) to divisional police chiefs, among the 1,542 PHP personnel, 500 shall be kept at Gujrat Police Lines as IGP Reserve as long as the long march is in the jurisdiction of Gujrat Region to tackle any emergency situation.
Afterward, the force shall shift to Jhelum and Rawalpindi to assist the local police for the same.
Out of 1,542 PHP personnel, 242 have been deployed in Gujarat, 500 in Jhelum, and 300 in Attock, according to Dawn.
On Tuesday, PTI announced that its long march will be resuming at 1 pm from Wazirabad Allahwale Chowk on Thursday.
Incidentally, it happens to be the same spot where former prime minister Imran Khan was shot at while carrying out his long march.
“Pakistan get ready!!! God willing, on Thursday, November 10, at 1:00 p.m., the Haqeeqi Azadi Long March will resume its journey from Wazirabad Allahwale Chowk,” PTI tweeted (translated from Urdu).
The date of the long march has been changed thrice. Earlier on Monday, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced that the party’s long march, which was halted after an assassination attempt on Imran Khan, will be resumed on Thursday instead of Tuesday as earlier announced, ARY News reported.
In the latest development, The Nation reported that PTI will be approaching the Pakistan Supreme Court to register the FIR in the incident of the attack on Imran Khan.
The PTI senators, members of the National Assembly, and members of the Provincial Assembly will be approaching the Supreme Court demanding the registration of FIR.
However, on Wednesday, Pakistan’s Punjab police filed an FIR against the assassinator after the country’s apex court issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the Punjab Police, Geo News reported.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan presided over a meeting with PTI. The meeting demanded an early election in all four provinces by dissolving the assemblies.
As per The Nation, the matters that were discussed in the meeting included the next phase of the Haqeeqi Azadi March and the country’s overall political situation.
The meeting was also attended by formal federal ministers Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Fawad Chaudhry, Senator Azam Swati, Umar Ayub, Yasmin Rashid, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Hammad Azhar, Ijaz Chaudhry, Shafqat Mehmood, and several other party leaders, The Nation reported.
After Punjab police filed FIR, Imran Khan termed it as “farcical” and added that his lawyers will soon put forward the PTI chief’s position.
“On the issue of the farcical FIR, my lawyers will give my position. All my life I dreamt of seeing my country as a prospering welfare state & my struggle throughout has been to make this dream a reality for my nation.
Today the nation has awakened, understood & risen in support of my message of justice, freedom, and national sovereignty,” Imran Khan tweeted.
Imran Khan was shot on November 3 during his long march in Punjab Province’s Wazirabad, leading to bullet injuries in his legs. Khan has since held the coalition government and Major General Naseer Faisal responsible for the attack. (ANI)