Outcry over PTI call for protest the day SCO summit gets under way

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information, Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar on Friday said Islamabad has been made fully safe and secure to welcome foreign delegations including 12 heads of the governments for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, scheduled for October 15-16.

“Those who have a mindset to conspire against the country should better stay at home as no miscreant will be allowed to disrupt the SCO conference in Islamabad,” the minister said while talking to the media.

“The announcements do not make any difference as Islamabad has been made fully safe and secure,” he said while referring to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which has announced to hold protest on October 15 at D-Chowk in Islamabad.

“It (SCO Summit) will go as planned and will elevate Pakistan’s prestige and improve its image at international level,” the minister remarked.

He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has personally reviewed the arrangements for the reception of different head of governments arriving in Islamabad to attend the SCO conference.

“This shows the importance of such a grand event in Pakistan which will be instrumental to boost the economic growth in the country,” he added.

The minister said all the security arrangements have been finalised in Islamabad with the deployment of all the law enforcement agencies including Pakistan Army and Rangers.

He said all the heads of governments participating in the SCO would be accorded a warm welcome in Islamabad as the whole nation is ready to celebrate the event with national pride.

The whole Islamabad has been decorated which would eventually leave a positive impression of Pakistan in minds of the visiting delegations, he noted.

He believed that the SCO would be a great success for Pakistan and would help enhance regional cooperation with a discussion on many important topics.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that this is a link to create instability in Pakistan.

He said that the heads of SCO member states were gathering, so the government would not allow the country to be held hostage.

The defence minister criticised and said that they (PTI) are the tool of international conspiracies, adding that power is something that comes and goes, it is not a legacy of anyone.

When the PTI founder lost power, the May 9 (violence) was unleashed.Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman said that any attempt to “protest on October 15 will only send one message that the PTI still puts itself over Pakistan, and that it’s willing to endanger the country’s image and security at a time when we are host to a big international conference.

“They have learnt no lessons it seems,” she said while reacting on the PTI announcement.

Sherry said that first they pitched the country into a cyphergate crisis, then they wrote to the International Monetary Fund in a shameful attempt to block Pakistan’s economic progress.

She said they staged a similar protest when the Chinese premier was set to arrive. “If this irresponsible behaviour is not anti- Pakistan then what is it? This is their death knell, frankly,” she remarked.

Also Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) said that the party could not support the PTI call to stage protest at the D-Chowk. Talking to ‘The News’, JUIF spokesperson Aslam Ghori recalled that party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman previously had asked the government to defer issue of constitutional amendments till conclusion of SCO Summit and also requested the PTI leadership to postpone its protest.

“PTI did not listen to our request and they are doing it again which we cannot support,” he said.

The JUIF spokesperson said that respectable foreign delegates would be visiting Pakistan and they are common guests of all and the whole nation should demonstrate unity on that occasion. He said as far protest was concerned it could be staged after the SCO Summit. “If they go ahead with the protest plan on eve of SCO Summit, it will raise many questions,” he said.

Earlier, to the shock of many, the PTI announced a full protest at D-Chowk on October 15, which is the first day of the two-day SCO conference, being held here.

The decision to this effect was taken during a hurriedly called meeting of the party’s political committee here, which was presided over by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan.

A statement issued at the end of the meeting said: “All organisational officials and wings from the centre to the lowest level have been directed to finalise the preparations for the D-Chowk protest.”

It was pointed out that in view of the preparations for the peaceful protest of D-Chowk on October 15, the protest announced in different districts of Punjab has been cancelled.

The political committee alleged that PTI founder chairman Imran Khan is being subjected to a new series of brutality in Adiala (jail) and that his life, health and safety have been deliberately exposed to serious threats, and all his basic and human rights have been taken away.

In return for not bowing down to oppression and lawlessness and not accepting the state’s efforts to undermine the Constitution, the government is engaged in conspiracies to endanger Imran’s security, it said.

“Imran Khan is the most popular and reliable leader of the nation and the spokesman of the political and national aspirations of millions of Pakistanis,” it claimed. The political committee warned that if the rulers did not immediately restore the basic rights of Imran, and full access was not given to his lawyers, doctors, families and leaders, then the whole of Pakistan would come out on October 15 for full protest.

It demanded the immediate release of the “illegally detained workers, citizens and members of the provincial assembly from across Punjab”.

In the statement the federal and Punjab governments were also demanded to immediately stop the series of raids and roundups while violating the sanctity of the cloak and four walls.