Nacta warns of terrorist attack on PTI's 'do-or-die' protest in Islamabad

As the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) gears up for its November 24 "do or die" protest, the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) issued a threat alert on Saturday. 

A statement issued by the counter-terrorism body said that the "Fitna al-Khawarij", also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), can carry out terror attacks in major cities of the country on the protest day. 

"There are reports of terrorists entering Pakistan from Afghanistan," said Nacta as the former ruling party prepares to carry out protests in the federal capital.

Keeping in view the security threat, Nacta has written to the Islamabad's chief commissioner and inspector generals. Moreover, it has also apprised the Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir's (AJ&K) chief commissioners of the threat alert.

The warning comes as the PTI is adamant on holding protests despite the Islamabad High Court's (IHC) orders directing the authorities concerned not to allow the party to stage demonstration in the federal capital in violation of the newly enacted peaceful assembly law.

The Imran Khan-founded party, in recent months, has marched onto the federal capital on multiple occasions which has seen its workers clashing with the law enforcement agencies (LEAs).

Furthermore, tomorrow's protest comes in the backdrop of the Belarusian president's upcoming visit along with 65-member delegation from November 25 to 27.

In this regard, the Shehbaz Sharif-led government is taking strict security measures to tackle the former ruling party's protest in light of the IHC orders.

The government is also likely to suspend mobile services across the country from today evening, according to the sources within the interior ministry.

Moreover, the government has also imposed Section 144 in Islamabad for two months with the administration seeking additional 8,000 police personnel along with the deployment of Rangers and Frontier Constabulary (FC).

Apart from the Islamabad administration, the Punjab government too has imposed Section 144 across the province for three days from November 23 to November 25 and has put over 10,700 police personnel on standby.

The PTI's decision to go ahead with its protest comes after its talks, as per The News, with the government reached a stalemate following the latter's refusal to agree with Khan's demand of his release by Friday (yesterday).