Tariq Fazal warns PTI of ‘other options’ if Sept 27 march goes ahead

Speaking on a private television programme, 'Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Saath', Chaudhry said the federal government’s first effort was to use legal and judicial means to persuade the PTI not to repeatedly attack Islamabad through armed groups.

Read:Sept 27 protest call irrevocable: Gohar“Our first option is to maintain law and order in Islamabad without any confrontation and avoid a situation involving any kind of clash,” he said.

Referring to previous incidents, he said whenever the PTI had marched on Islamabad, it had never been in the form of a peaceful march and had instead resulted in the loss of precious human lives.

He claimed that the government had intelligence reports indicating that the PTI’s long march would not be a peaceful gathering but a violent one and that the party wanted to create a situation in Islamabad. He also warned that the government would take strict action if the PTI did not heed the warning.

“Therefore, if a peaceful solution can be found through judicial means, that would be better. Otherwise, no one will be allowed to march on Islamabad. The government will then try to stop the march through other means, which will be our second option,” he added.

When asked about the possibility of finding middle ground to settle the issue and avoid a confrontation, Chaudhry said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had himself approached the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly and invited him to sit down for talks. “What more can be done to find a middle ground than this?

The offer is still valid,” he said. “The prime minister is ready to hold talks with the leader of the opposition at a place of his choice. What bigger political move could there be?

Is this not a middle ground?” he added. PTI rejects offerK-P Information Minister Shafi, who was also attending the programme, criticised the procedure being adopted to halt the march, saying such a situation was occurring for the first time.

“This is happening for the first time. The event has not even taken place yet, and the court is taking action on an application filed by an ordinary citizen,” he said.

Accusing the government of trying to play a game under the pretext of the PTI’s protest, he said the party had not been involved in the May 9 incident either. “Now they are trying to do something themselves under its pretext, so we will have to keep an eye on this,” he added.

Also Read:IHC forms larger bench over PTI September 27 protest. Responding to the government’s offer for talks, Jan said the time for negotiations had passed. “That time has passed.

Why did they not move towards negotiations in the past two years? Three times we came forward with proposals, but on all three occasions, the talks ended in a deadlock,” he said. He said whenever the PTI’s movement began gaining momentum, and the government felt threatened, or sensed that PTI workers were marching towards Islamabad, it remembered negotiations.

Rejecting the government’s offer for dialogue, the provincial information minister claimed that around two million protesters would march towards Islamabad on Sept 27 under the leadership of K-P Chief Minister Sohail Afridi.

“[If] you want to impose governor’s rule, do it; if you want to disqualify Sohail Afridi, do it; if you want to open fire, do it; if you want to arrest [us], do it. Do whatever you want before Sept 27, and on Sept 27, we will show you by bringing two million people,” he said.