PTI denied permission to hold protest

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Commissioner Islamabad refused to grant permission to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to hold a protest demonstration in the capital city on Saturday.

The administration rejected the PTI’s application, maintaining that demonstration cannot be allowed given Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) which is in force in the city.

The administration has also asked the citizens to avoid being a part of any political gathering. “Islamabad police should take action against those participating in the protest demonstration,” it added.

It is pertinent to mention here that the PTI called for nationwide protests on Saturday against what it called ‘rigging’ in the elections.

Earlier in the day, PTI Senior Vice President Sher Afzal Marwat said he would lead Saturday’s demonstration from Islamabad’s F9 park to the National Press Club.

Talking to journalists, Marwat said that PTI founder Imran Khan wants supporters to come out and protest on Saturday at 11:30 am in the same numbers as they came out on February 8.

Sher Afzal Marwat said that the protest would remain peaceful, warning that if the police clamped down it then the movement would continue until “the results are not changed”.

Separately speaking to journalists after meeting Jamat-e-Islami (JI) leadership in Islamabad, PTI leader Asad Qaiser invited different political parties that believed that there was “rigging” in the elections to join the country-wide protest.