Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Wednesday announced complete ban on all kinds of protests in the Red Zone of the federal capital.

“Time has come to decide whether we can allow anyone to announce protest against the government and then hold the State hostage through a sit-in at the D-Chowk,” he told a press conference soon after successful negotiations with the protesters that had gathered outside the Parliament House.

“I, as interior minister, have decided to ban entry of political, religious and other groups at D-Chowk,” he said. “With the approval of the parliament, we will also raise some physical structures in Islamabad that will help police maintain State’s writ by preventing such invasions in future,” he added.

Nisar denied any written agreement had been signed between the government and the demonstrators. “No written agreement or otherwise has been signed between the leadership of the protesters and the government, nor anyone was mandated to do so,” he said, and added that it was just an ‘understanding’ between the two parties.

Paying thanks to ‘mediators’ for playing their role in ending the protest peacefully, the minister said that government was all set to launch crackdown on the demonstrators but had to delay it due to several requests by some ‘respectable personalities’ who had urged the government to let dialogue give a chance.

The interior minister said that the operation to evict pro-Qadri demonstrators was not conducted on Tuesday as capital’s police force needed reinforcements to be able to effectively cope with the situation. “By the time reinforcements reached, it was already late. Since we wanted to conduct the action in daylight, we put it off until the next morning,” he said.

Nisar lamented that some violent elements, taking advantage of the massive gathering on Sunday, suddenly started marching towards Islamabad’s Red Zone. He said all those protestors who took the law into their own hands by damaging the public as well as government property and attacking government officials will be prosecuted. “However, the bystanders or the people who were not involved in violence will be released soon,” he said. “From Lahore to Attock, we know all those who are involved in breaking the law and we will prosecute them under the law,” he said. “In Islamabad and Rawalpindi alone, 1,070 people are under arrest,” he said.