ISLAMABAD: As the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) looks set to march onto Islamabad to hold its “do-or-die” protest today, the Mahmood Khan Achakzai-led opposition alliance Tehreek-e-Tahafuz Ayeen-e-Pakistan (TTAP) has decided against becoming part of the former ruling party’s protest.
According to well-placed sources in the PTI and the TTAP, the alliance’s leaders hold a different viewpoint — as opposed to the PTI — and want a mutually agreed upon date reached via a consensus to hold the protest with a different mode altogether.
The development comes as authorities have sealed off several roads leading to Islamabad and have deployed additional security personnel to deter the PTI workers and supporters.
Meanwhile, internet services have also witnessed disruptions in the federal capital along with Karachi, Peshawar and other cities.
The stern measures come as the incumbent government has categorically maintained that it cannot allow the Imran Khan-founded party to hold a demonstration in Islamabad in the light of Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) order which came in light of the three-day official visit of the Belarusian president from November 25 to 27.
The court, on Thursday, had directed the authorities not to allow the PTI to protest in the federal capital in adherence to the Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act, 2024 — which empowers the district magistrate to regulate and ban public assemblies.
