Punjab govt withdraws order to deploy troops

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: The Punjab caretaker government and Islamabad administration have both decided to withdraw the notification for the deployment of army troops, brought to address the deteriorating law and order situation following the arrest of PTI chief Imran Khan.

The Punjab Home Department and Islamabad authorities have written separate letters to the Interior Ministry, asking it to withdraw the services of army men in the province and the capital city.

According to sources in the Home Department, the army is being sent back after the law and order situation in the province was brought under control.

The services of 10 companies of the army had been placed at the disposal of the Punjab government.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad administration on Saturday asked the interior ministry to call back the Pakistan Army troops a month after they were deployed.

On May 10, the military was called in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad to maintain the deteriorating law and order situation after protests erupted countrywide.

The nearly three-day-long protests also claimed at least eight lives and injured dozens of others with the incumbent coalition government suspending internet services and deploying army troops to maintain law and order situation.

In a letter to the Ministry of Interior, the chief commissioner of Islamabad said that the situation in the capital was “satisfactory”.

“The situation is now satisfactory in the ICT (Islamabad Capital Territory) and it is, therefore, requested that the requisition made vide the referred letter may be de-notified, in the best interest of the public,” the letter said.