Daily Times

The Ministry of Interior on Wednesday again requested the PTI leadership to postpone its public gatherings in view of threats to the life of former prime minister Imran Khan and prevailing security situation in the country. A letter, addressed to PTI Secretary General Asad Umar, states that the Interior Ministry has been sharing threat alerts generated by credible intelligence sources to the life of Imran Khan by anti-state elements to destabilise the country. The letter also mentioned recent attack on Imran Khan by an armed assailant at Wazirabad. It further stated that the attack in Wazirabad, where former premier Imran Khan was injured, had highlighted the importance of taking the threat alerts seriously, “particularly in the context of the resumption of the march and its culmination in Rawalpindi”. According to the letter, in view of the threats the federal government had provided a bulletproof vehicle and deployed police and civil armed forces for Imran’s stay in Islamabad. However, the party chief was presently in Lahore and participants of the march had moved to Rawat. The ministry expected the provincial government of Punjab to take all necessary measures for security arrangements in their jurisdiction for the protection of Imran as well as the participants of the march.

“Anti-state elements like Al-Qaeda/Daesh, TTP, and radicalized youth of TLP can take advantage of soft targets like public gatherings to destabilise the country through suicide attacks, IEDs (improvised explosive devise), etc,” it warned. The ministry’s notice to Asad Umar stated that “in view of the gravity of the security threat, the need to exercise maximum caution can hardly be overemphasised”. It regretted, however, that despite repeated requests cautioning the party about the threats, “and in the context of the protest in Rawalpindi on November 26 in particular”, the party leadership seemed “oblivious” to the security situation.

The ministry further informed Umar that the latest intelligence report was shared with provincial governments. It urged the PTI to keep the security situation in view and consider postponing the rally in Rawalpindi.