Ministry of Interior approves deployment of armed forces across country

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Interior on Monday authorised the deployment of the Pakistan Army troops in all four provinces, the Islamabad Capital Territory, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to help tackle COVID-19.

Sindh, Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir have declared a complete lockdown while the rest of the provinces and the capital city imposed a near lockdown to contain further spread of the coronavirus.

They had written to the Ministry of Interior seeking deployment of the armed forces.

The ministry issued separate notifications authorising the deployment of the armed forces.

“The Competent Authority in exercise of the powers conferred under Article 245 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Section 131A of CrPC 1898, is pleased to authorize deployment of sufficient strength of troops of Pakistan Army in ICT depending upon the requirement to be worked out by the ICT Administration in liaison with the Army authorities in connection with the prevailing situation related to the spread of COVID-19 and matters ancillary thereto, subject to laws enforced in Pakistan,” read one of the notifications.

It is to mention here that the nationwide tally of coronavirus cases has jumped to 803 with 27 new COVID-19 cases reported in the country on Monday.

According to the National Command and Control Centre for the novel coronavirus, 352 cases have been diagnosed in Sindh, 225 in Punjab, 108 in Balochistan, 31 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,71 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 15 in Islamabad; and one in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.