Daily Times

Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah Khan has asked the provincial governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to open up the national highways and motorways in their jurisdictions and avoid creating trouble for people under the protection of the police. Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, the minister said that provincial governments should fulfill their constitutional duty otherwise there would be consequences. He said that it was the constitutional duty of provincial governments to protect the rights of the people and the federal government was reminding the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab governments about this duty. He said that both provincial governments have been written for the restoration of traffic on national highways and motorways in their jurisdictions and to ensure peace in their limits. He also called on the chief justices of the apex and high courts of Punjab, Islamabad and Peshawar to take notice of the protests, saying that the people causing trouble for citizens would later approach the court for relief.

He said that a handful of protesters were agitating in various districts of Khyber Pakhtunkwa as well as Punjab and causing inconvenience for citizens. The nation had rejected the PTI’s ” fitna march” and I apologized to the people affected by the march on behalf of the federal government, its allies and prime minister, Rana Sanaullah added.

He said that the protesters were burning tyres and blocking roads. Later, they film videos to show that a sea of citizens is protesting, he said adding that citizens were being prevented from going to the hospital, picking up their children from school and running important errands.

He said that at some sites, the protesters had blocked roads from both sides and police is assisting them by placing barriers. Citizens have shown resentment on such attitude of PTI’s protesters and situation would be tense if people started reacting over such protests, he added.

The minister reiterated that only a few thousand people had joined the party’s march which was intent on pushing the country toward chaos. He said that only one suspect, Naveed, had been arrested for involvement in Wazirabad incident and there was no other suspect. He said that suspect had the same motivations as those behind the attacks on Ahsan Iqbal and the attack on Khawaja Asif.