ISLAMABAD: With the government and the law-enforcement agencies showing a lenient view towards the activists from the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) parties, the latter entered Islamabad’s Red Zone on Monday despite imposition of Section 144 in the federal capital.
A large number of PDM workers entered Islamabad’s Red Zone by foot as well as in Trucks as the capital police failed to stop them to enter the Red Zone. PDM has announced a sit-in outside Supreme Court in Islamabad today, but there are reports that Maulana Fazlur Rehman has agreed to stage the sit-in at D-chowk.
Despite the imposition of section 144 in the federal capital, the PDM leadership gave a sit-in call against top judiciary for giving ‘extraordinary relief’ to PTI chief Imran Khan in several cases. The rallies of the ruling alliance workers parties including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) are on their way to participate in the protest.
A day earlier, Federal Ministers Ishaq Dar and Rana Sanaullah met Maulana Fazlur Rehman and asked him not to stage a protest outside the Supreme Court. However, the JUI-F chief rejected the federal government’s request to change the venue.
The JUI-F workers were seen scaling the gates and entering the Red Zone area. They set up a stage in front of the Supreme Court Judges Gate to protest against what they describe as the judiciary’s preferential treatment of former PM and PTI Chairman Imran Khan. The Islamabad Capital Territory police have asked the protesters to remain peaceful, saying that there was a threat of terrorist activity.
The PDM workers came out in the form of caravans while carrying the flags of their respective parties and raised slogans against chief justice of Pakistan and in favour of Pakistan Army. Workers of the ruling coalition party PML-N also joined the crowd.
The ruling coalition has been criticizing a set of the top judiciary led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial since February this year when the top court started suo-moto proceedings on the delay in the announcement of dates for elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces. However, this acrimony intensified when a three-judge bench led by CJP Bandial on May 11 declared the arrest of the PTI chairman from inside the IHC illegal.
